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I  •  ,   ;.:       S   B     i\  " 


THE 


NATIONAL 


PORTRAIT  GALLERY 


JistinguisM 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES 


CKLEBRATKD    AUTHORS- 


Illustrated  by   One  Hundred  and  Sixty  Fine  Steel  Engravings. 


FROM   THE   MOST  AUTHENTIC   PORTRAITS. 


COMPLETE  IN   FOUR  VOLUMES. 
VOL.  I. 


PHILADELPHIA  : 

RICE,    R  UTTER    &     CO., 

No.  525  MINOR  S  T  R  E  E  T. 
1865. 


CONTENTS  OF  VOLUME  I. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON,  First  President  of  the  United  States. 

MARTHA  WASI 1 1  N(  iTON,  consort  of  George  Washington. 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON,  Tliird  President  of  the  United  States. 

JOHN  HANCOCK,  President  of  the  Continental  Congress,  etc. 

CHARLES  CARROLL,  of  Carrollton. 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  Sixteenth  President  of  the  United  States. 

WINFIELD  SCOTT,  Lieutenant-General  United  States  Army. 

ANTHONY  WAYNE,  Major-General  in  the  Continental  Army. 

THOMAS  MACDONOUGH,  Commodore  United  States  Navy.' 

WASHINGTON  IRVING,  Esq.,  Author. 

WILLIAM  WHITE,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania,  etc. 

JOHN  MARSHALL,  Chief  Justice  United  States. 

LEWIS  CASS,  Secretary  of  War,  Senator  from  Michigan,  etc. 

ANDREW  JACKSON,  Seventh  President  of  the  United  States. 

JAMES  FENIMORE  COOPER,  Esq.,  Author. 

PATRICK  HENRY,  First  Republican  Governor  of  Virginia. 

JOHN  C.  CALHOUN,  Vice-President  of  U.  S.,  Senator  from  S.  C.,  eto. 

WILLIAM  MOULTRIE,  Major-General  in  the  Continental  Army. 

HENRY  CLAY,  Secretary  of  State,  Senator  from  Kentucky,  etc. 

DANIEL  WEBSTER,  Secretary  of  State,  Senator  from  Mass.,  etc. 

WILLIAM  WIRT,  Attorney  General  United  States. 

TIMOTHY  DWIGHT,  D.D.,  President  of  Yale  College,  etc. 

JOEL  BARLOW,  Minister  to  France,  etc. 

JOHN  TRUMBULL,  President  of  the  American  Academy  of  Fine 
Arts. 

JOHN  JAY,  Minister  to  England  and  Spain,  etc. 

JOHN  E.  HOWARD,  Colonel  in  the  Continental  Army,  Senator 
from  Maryland. 

GILBERT  CHARLES  STUART,  Esq.,  Painter. 

ISRAEL  PUTNAM,  Major-General  in  the  Continental  Army. 

ALEXANDER  HAMILTON,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  etc. 

OLIVER  H.  PERRY,  Commodore  United  States  Navy. 

EDWARD  SHIPPEN,  Chief  Justice  of  Pennsylvania.' 

THEODRIC  R.  BECK,  M.D.,  Author  of  "Medical  Jurispru 
dence,"  etc, 

OTHO  H.  WILLIAMS,  Adjutant-General  of  Continental  Army,  etc. 

JOSEPH  HABERSHAM,  Postmaster-General,  etc. 

ABRAHAM  BALDWIN,  Senator  United  States  from  Georgia. 

ELIAS  BOUDINOT,  President  of  Congress,  etc. 

JACOB  BROWN,  Major-General  United  States  Army. 

ABBOTT  LAWRENCE,  Minister  to  England. 


GEORGE     WASHINGTON. 


OUR  commonwealth  possesses  no  richer  treasure  than  the  fair  fame  of 
her  children.  In  the  revolutions  of  empires,  the  present  institutions 
of  our  land  may  perish,  and  new  ones,  perhaps  more  perfect,  may 
arise ;  but  the  glory  of  our  national  existence  cannot  pass  away,  so 
long  as  the  names  of  those  who,  in  it,  enlarged  the  boundaries  of 
knowledge,  gave  tone  to  its  morals,  framed  its  laws,  or  fought  its 
battles,  are  remembered  with  gratitude.  The  men  who  stamp  the 
impressions  of  their  genius  or  their  virtues  on  their  own  times, 
influence  also  those  which  follow,  and  they  become  the  benefactors 
of  after  ages  and  of  remote  nations.  Of  such  the  memorials  should 
be  carefully  collected  and  preserved;  and  Americans,  above  all 
others,  owe  it  to  their  country  and  to  the  world  to  perpetuate  such 
records,  while  it  is  possible  to  separate  truth  from  fiction,  in  all  that 
relates  to  those  who  laid  the  foundation  of  the  republic — who  have 
sustained  it  by  their  wisdom,  or  adorned  it  by  their  talents.  It 
should  be  constantly  borne  in  mind  that  our  country  stands  conspi 
cuous  among  nations,  as  a  fair  daughter  amidst  a  family  of  elder 
sons ;  that  as  a  nation  it  has  passed  through  no  age  of  fabulous 
obscurity,  nor  useless  years  of  feeble  infancy,  but  stepped  forth  at 
maturity,  in  the  panoply  of  war,  like  Minerva  from  the  brain  of 
Jove.  In  its  history  there  is  no  blank ;  it  is  full  of  striking  inci 
dents,  of  original  theories,  and  of  bold  experiments.  In  its  govern 
ment  it  has  exhibited,  and  is  still  demonstrating  to  the  world,  under 
new  and  peculiar  aspects,  the  ability  of  men  to  rule  themselves,  and 
to  protect  their  own  rights  without  injury  to  the  rights  of  others. 
The  men  whose  names  are  inscribed  with  honor  on  the  pages  of 
American  history,  were  fitted  to  the  times  and  the  occasions  which 
called  them  forth ;  they  were  men  of  iron  nerves  and  fearless  hearts, 
of  devoted  action  and  incorruptible  integrity,  of  splendid  talents  and 
practical  common  sense ;  who  lived  for  the  glory  of  their  country 
and  the  happiness  of  their  race.  Of  these,  there  is  one  "  first  in  the 
hearts  of  his  countrymen  ;"  as 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

«  The  first 


In  every  public  duty • 

Conspicuous  like  an  oak  of  healthiest  bough, 

Deep  rooted  in  his  country's  love  he  stood."  POLLOK. 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON  was  born  at  Bridge's  Creek,  Westmoreland 
county,  Virginia,  on  the  22d  of  February,  1732.  Before  he  was 
ten  years  old,  he  was  deprived  of  the  guidance  and  example  of  an 
excellent  father ;  but  the  judicious  economy  and  prudent  affection  of 
his  remaining  parent  provided  for  him  instruction  in  the  useful 
branches  of  knowledge,  and  above  all,  she  trained  him  to  a  love  of 
truth,  and  successfully  cultivated  that  high  moral  sense  which  cha 
racterized  his  actions  from  his  youth.  There  is  no  doubt  that  to  the 
careful  culture  bestowed  by  his  affectionate  mother,  the  goodness 
and  greatness  of  WASHINGTON  are  to  be  ascribed.  And  we  will  here 
call  the  attention  of  the  reader  to  the  fact,  which  bears  honorable 
testimony  to  the  female  character,  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  dis 
tinguished  men  whose  names  adorn  the  history  of  our  country,  were 
left  to  the  care  of  their  widowed  mothers  at  a  very  early  age. 

"  This  tells  to  mothers  what  a  holy  charge 
Is  theirs, —  with  what  a  kingly  power  their  love 
Might  rule  the  fountain  of  the  new  born  mind  — 
Warn?  them  to  wake  at  early  dawn,  and  sow 
Good  seed  before  the  world  doth  sow  its  tares."    MRS.  SIGOURXEY. 

At  the  age  of  fifteen  WASHINGTON  received  the  appointment  of 
midshipman  in  the  British  navy,  but  surrendered  it  at  the  earnest 
desire  of  his  mother.  He  afterwards  practised  the  profession  of  a 
surveyor,  and  when  nineteen,  he  held,  for  a  short  time,  the  appoint 
ment  of  adjutant  general,  with  the  rank  of  major,  in  the  forces  of 
the  colony. 

In  1753  the  French  began  to  execute  a  project  they  had  some 
time  meditated,  which  was,  to  connect  their  Canadian  possessions 
with  Louisiana,  by  a  line  of  posts  from  the  lakes  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Ohio.  They  marched  a  force  into  the  country,  and  erected  a 
fort  on  the  Alleghany  river ;  but  these  measures  being  regarded  as 
encroachments  on  the  rights  of  Great  Britain,  the  lieutenant  gover 
nor  of  Virginia,  Dinwiddie,  determined  to  require  their  withdrawal, 
and  selected  WASHINGTON  for  the  performance  of  the  hazardous 
enterprise  of  traversing  the  wilderness  and  making  the  demand. 
This  journey  was  performed  in  the  depth  of  winter.  On  his  route 
he  examined  the  country,  noted  the  strongest  military  positions, 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

secured  the  friendship  of  the  Indian  tribes,  and  made  himself 
acquainted  with  the  force  and  designs  of  the  French.  On  his  return 
he  presented  a  journal  of  his  progress  and  observations  as  part  of  his 
report,  which,  being  published  and  extensively  circulated,  was  read 
with  interest  in  all  the  colonies,  and  gave  him  a  prominent  place  in 
the  regard  of  the  public. 

As  the  French  were  determined  to  hold  the  country  west  of  the 
mountains,  the  legislature  of  Virginia  began  to  take  measures  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  British  claim.  They  accordingly  raised  a  regi 
ment,  arid  appointed  WASHINGTON  lieutenant  colonel.  Early  in  the 
spring,  he  marched  with  two  companies  in  advance  to  the  Great 
Meadows,  where  he  learned  from  some  friendly  Indians,  that  the 
French  had  attacked  and  dispersed  a  party  of  workmen  who  were 
erecting  a  fort  on  the  south  eastern  branch  of  the  Ohio,  and  were 
themselves  building  a  fortification  at  the  confluence  of  the  Alleghany 
and  Monongahela,  and  that  a  detachment  were  on  their  march  to 
wards  him,  apparently  with  hostile  intentions ;  these  he  surrounded 
in  their  encampment  at  night,  and  at  break  of  day,  his  troops,  after 
delivering  one  fire,  which  killed  the  French  commander,  captured 
the  whole  party,  except  one  man.  Being  joined  soon  after  by  the 
residue  of  the  regiment,  and  a  few  other  troops,  making  an  aggre 
gate  of  somewhat  less  than  four  hundred  men,  they  erected  a  small 
stockade  fort ;  here  he  was  attacked  by  twelve  hundred  French  and 
Indians,  and  after  a  brave  resistance  from  ten  in  the  morning  until 
night,  he  capitulated.  The  assembly  of  Virginia  voted  their  thanks 
for  the  gallantry  and  good  conduct  displayed  on  this  occasion. 

In  the  winter  of  1754,  orders  were  received  from  England,  that 
officers  of  the  royal  troops  should  take  rank  over  provincial  officers 
of  the  same  grade,  without  regard  to  seniority ;  on  this,  WASHINGTON 
resigned  his  commission  with  indignation,  and  withdrew  to  Mount 
Vernon.  From  this  retirement  he  was  tempted  by  an  invitation 
from  General  Braddock,  to  serve  as  a  volunteer  aid-de-camp  in  the 
campaign  of  1755.  The  experience  and  advice  of  WASHINGTON 
might  have  been  peculiarly  valuable  to  the  general,  had  he  known 
its  worth ;  but  that  officer,  unused  to  the  march  of  an  army  through 
ihe  wilderness,  refused  to  dispense  with  a  cumbrous  attirail,  or  to 
adapt  his  mode  of  warfare  to  the  state  of  the  country ;  the  conse 
quence  was,  his  army  was  defeated,  and  he  lost  his  life.  Notwith 
standing  the  unfortunate  result  of  the  expedition,  the  bravery  and 
admirable  conduct  of  WASHINGTON,  in  covering  the  retreat  of  the 
army,  received  the  commendation  of  the  wounded  general,  and  led 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

to  his  appointment  as  commander-in-chief  of  all  the  Virginia  forces. 
Nearly  three  years,  with  less  than  one  thousand  provincial  troops, 
aided  occasionally  by  militia,  he  was  expected  to  protect  a  frontier 
of  near  four  hundred  miles  in  extent ;  but  his  force  was  inadequate 
to  the  duty  required,  and  the  distressed  inhabitants  of  the  frontiers 
either  fled  or  fell  before  the  savage  foe,  until  the  Blue  ridge  became 
the  boundary  of  settlement.  In  the  expedition  against  Fort  du 
Gluesne,  in  1758,  he  served  underGeneral  Forbes;  and  after  a  succes 
sion  of  arduous  duties,  when  the  country  was  relieved  from  imme 
diate  danger,  he  resigned  his  commission,  to  the  great  regret  of  the 
officers  of  the  army,  both  British  and  provincial.  They  who  had 
seen  service  with  him  in  the  wilderness,  knew  the  value  of  his  ex 
perience  and  prudent  counsels,  and  although  it  had  been  too  humili 
ating  to  the  pride  of  those  who  had  gathered  laurels  in  the  fields  of 
Europe  to  follow  the  advice  of  a  provincial  officer,  yet  in  the  judge 
ment  of  his  countrymen,  he  retired  with  an  increased  military 
reputation. 

From  the  fields  of  his  early  fame,  he  turned  his  attention  to  the 
peaceful  pursuits  of  agriculture,  and  the  enjoyment  of  domestic  life. 
Having  inherited  from  his  brother  the  Mount  Vernon  estate,  he 
took  possession  of  it,  and  married  a  lady  of  whom  we  shall  hereafter 
speak  more  particularly.  The  ensuing  fifteen  years  were  chiefly 
passed  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac,  in  the  improving  of  his 
estate,  occasionally  exercising  the  functions  of  a  justice  of  the  peace, 
or  of  a  representative  in  the  provincial  legislature,  until  the  general 
congress  first  assembled  in  Philadelphia.  Like  the  years  of  early 
life,  we  must  pass  too  hastily  forward  to  more  momentous  scenes 
to  note  the  progress  of  this  period  more  particularly. 

Although  Virginia  had  had  her  share  of  vexations,  which  had,  at 
intervals,  agitated  the  colony  nearly  a  century,  all  had  been  forgot 
ten  on  the  approach  of  hostile  feet ;  British  and  provincial  blood  had 
flowed  together  on  the  same  field  in  the  common  cause,  and  by  the 
union  of  American  and  British  valor,  over  the  whole  country,  from 
the  ocean  to  the  northern  lakes,  the  union  flag  of  Britain  waved  trium 
phantly.  Peace  and  security  brought  joy  and  harmony  to  the  peo 
ple  ;  and  had  the  authority  of  the  mother  country  received  a  liberal 
construction  from  its  rulers,  it  is  probable  that  the  love  and  allegiance 
of  the  colonists  might  have  been  confirmed  :  but  a  spirit  of  domina 
tion  prevailed,  and  was  resisted ;  power  was  applied  to  enforce 
obedience,  but  it  only  aggravated  the  evil  by  imbittering  the  spirits 
of  a  people,  who  felt  themselves  to  be  no  longer  children,  and  that 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

as  such  they  were  not  regarded.  The  principle  contended  for  by 
the  parliament  was,  the  absolute  "  power  and  right  of  Great  Britain 
to  bind  the  colonies  in  all  cases  whatsoever."  Virginia  was  not  less 
ready  than  the  other  colonies  to  contest  that  right,  and  the  house  of 
burgesses  declared,  that  "  no  power  on  earth  has  a  right  to  impose 
taxes  on  the  people,  or  take  the  smallest  portion  of  their  property, 
without  their  consent,  given  by  their  representatives  in  parliament." 
The  parties  were  thus  at  issue,  and  the  most  zealous  exertions  were 
made  to  defend  "THE  AMERICAN  CAUSE." 

When  the  first  intelligence  of  "  the  Boston  port  bill"  was  received  in 
Virginia,  the  legislature,  which  was  then  in  session,  entered  a  solemn 
protest  against  it  on  their  journal,  and  appointed  the  first  of  June, 

1774,  the  day  on  which  it  was  to  go  into  operation,  as  a  day  of  fast 
ing  and  prayer.     That  day,  indeed,  throughout  the  country,  was  a 
day  of  humiliation  and  mourning.     Whilst  engaged  in  these  pro 
ceedings,  they  were  hastily  summoned  by  the  governor  to  the  coun 
cil  chamber,  and  suddenly  dissolved.     The  next  day,  the  28th  of 
May.  1774,  the  members  met,  and  recommended  the  appointing  of 
deputies  from  the  several  colonies  to  meet  in  congress  to  deliberate 
on  the  measures  which  the  general  interests  required.     Deputies 
were  accordingly  appointed,  and  congress  assembled  in  Philadelphia 
on   the  ensuing  4th   of  September.     One  of  these  deputies   was 
GEORGE  WASHINGTON.     The  conspicuous  part  he  had  borne  in 
the  late  wars,  had  indicated  him  as  the  most  competent  person  to  be 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  independent  companies  formed  in  Virginia, 
and  when  he  took  his  seat  in  the  general  congress  he  was  regarded 
as  the  soldier  of  America.     He  was  appointed  on  all  committees  in 
which  military  knowledge  was  requisite,  and  when  it  was  determined 
to  appoint  a  commander-in-chief,  he  was  unanimously  chosen.     He 
accepted  the  appointment  with  great  diffidence,  and  declined  all 
compensation  beyond  the  payment  of  his  expenses. 

He  proceeded  to  Cambridge,  near  Boston,  without  delay,  and 
entered  on  the  arduous  duties  of  his  station  about  the  1st  of  July, 

1775.  At  this  time  the  British  army,  under  General  Howe,  was 
entrenched  in  two  divisions,  at  Roxbury  Neck  and  Bunker  Hill: 
the  Americans  were  encamped  on  the  numerous  hills  around  Bos 
ton,  their  right  extending  towards  Dorchester,  their  left  covered  by 
the  Medford  river.     The  commander-in-chief  found  himself  at  the 
head  of  about  fourteen  thousand  five  hundred  men,  variously  armed, 
without  cannon,  with  few  bayonets,  and  but  a  small  supply  of  pow 
der  ;  the  officers,  with  few  exceptions,  without  experience,  and  the 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

soldiers  without  discipline.  All  these  defects  were  to  be  remedied 
before  offensive  operations  could  commence.  The  emergency  re 
quired  all  the  firmness,  industry,  and  perseverance  of  WASHINGTON; 
and  although- he  was  indefatigable  in  his  exertions,  the  organization 
of  the  army  and  the  collecting  of  munitions  occupied  the  remainder 
of  the  summer  and  the  following  autumn. 

In  the  mean  time  the  British  army  was  closely  blockaded  in  Bos 
ton,  and  although  it  suffered  much  for  supplies,  remained  inactive. 
Towards  the  close  of  the  year  a  new  subject  of  anxiety  arose ;  the 
time  of  service  of  the  troops  would  expire  with  the  year,  and  the 
army  was  to  be  replaced  by  another,  in  the  presence  of  a  disciplined 
enemy.  To  raise  another  army,  even  for  one  year's  service,  was 
attended  with  many  difficulties.  -The  enthusiastic  ardor  which  had 
brought  the  first  force  into  the  field  had  abated;  the  recollections 
of  home  had  revived  sweet  visions  of  domestic  comfort,  and  the 
wish  to  revisit  relatives  and  friends  often  prevailed  over  a  sense  of 
duty.  As  the  year  declined  the  army  gradually  melted  away,  and 
at  the  beginning  of  1776  the  new  enlistments  scarcely  equalled  the 
number  of  the  British  troops  in  Boston.  Still,  the  public,  them 
selves  deceived  as  well  as  the  enemy  by  the  exaggerated  representa 
tions  of  WASHINGTON'S  offensive  means,  were  impatiently  looking  for 
active  measures.  The  commander  was  not  insensible  to  the  effects 
of  his  apparent  inactivity  on  the  public  mind,  but  it  world  have 
been  ruin  to  have  explained  the  cause.  He  was  determined  to  expel 
the  enemy  from  Boston  as  soon  as  a  favorable  opportunity  should 
present,  and  his  views  being  known  to  congress,  that  body  author 
ized  him  to  make  an  attack  "  in  any  way  he  might  think  expedient, 
notwithstanding  the  town  and  property  in  it  might  be  thereby 
destroyed."  The  general  assured  congress  that  an  attempt  would  be 
made  the  first  moment  he  should  perceive  a  probability  of  success, 
and  prayed  them  to  believe  that  circumstances,  not  inclination  on 
his  part,  occasioned  the  delay.  "It  is  not,"  said  he,  "in  the  pages 
of  history  to  furnish  a  case  like  ours.  To  maintain  a  post  within 
musket  shot  of  the  enemy  for  six  months  together  without  ammuni 
tion  ;  and  at  the  same  time,  to  disband  one  army  and  recruit  another 
within  that  distance  of  twenty  odd  British  regiments,  is  more  than, 
probably,  was  ever  attempted.  But  if  we  succeed  as  well  in  the  lat 
ter,  as  we  have  hitherto  done  in  the  former,  I  shall  think  it  the  most 
fortunate  event  in  my  whole  life."  About  the  middle  of  February 
the  general  summoned  a  council,  and  submitted  the  subject  of  attack 
ing  the  enemy  in  Boston  by  marching  over  the  ice,  which  was  then 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON. 

firm  enough  to  bear  the  troops,  but  they  gave,  with  regret,  nearly 
an  unanimous  opinion  against  it.  At  length,  after  having  received 
a  small  additional  supply  of  powder,  he  determined  to  fortify  Dor 
chester  heights,  which  would  compel  the  enemy  to  fight  or  abandon 
the  town.  He  detached  a  sufficient  force  in  the  night  of  the  4th  of 
March  to  take  possession ;  before  morning  the  breastwork  was 
formed  and  the  cannon  mounted.  When  the  morning  light  revealed 
the  new  entrenchment  to  the  British,  they  opened  a  fire  upon  it, 
which  was  promptly  returned  ;  Lord  Percy  was  then  ordered,  with 
about  three  thousand  men,  to  dislodge  the  Americans  ;  but  they  were 
delayed  by  a  storm  until  the  works  were  so  strengthened  that  it  was 
deemed  advisable  to  let  them  alone.  General  Howe  then  prepared  to 
evacuate  Boston  ;  and  WASHINGTON,  confidently  believing  that  New 
York  would  be  the  next  point  of  attack,  detached  a  part  of  the  army 
towards  that  place,  whilst  he  continued  to  make  approaches  towards 
Boston  with  the  remaining  troops.  The  British  evacuated  the 
town  on  the  17th  of  March,  and  in  a  few  days  left  the  harbor. 
WASHINGTON,  with  the  main  body  of  his  army,  arrived  in  New 
York  on  the  14th  of  April,  and  pressed  forward  the  defences  of  the 
city.  Many  of  the  inhabitants  of  New  York  were  disaifected  to  the 
American  cause,  and  to  add  to  the  embarrassments  the  commander 
already  experienced,  a  part  of  his  own  guard  was  seduced  to  seize 
his  person  and  deliver  him  to  the  enemy,  but  the  plot  being  disco 
vered,  some  of  the  conspirators  were  executed. 

Early  in  July  the  British  army  landed  on  Staten  Island,  eight 
miles  below  the  city  of  New  York,  where  they  remained  about  three 
weeks,  and  received  large  reinforcements  of  German  troops.  They 
then  passed  over  the  Narrows  to  Long  Island,  and  pushed  their 
detachments  across  the  country  through  Flatlands  towards  the  sound. 
These  being  opposed  by  a  division  under  Generals  Sullivan  and  Lord 
Stirling,  a  severe  contest  ensued,  but  the  British  right  having  out 
flanked  the  left  of  the  Americans,  the  latter  suffered  a  total  defeat, 
and  took  shelter  within  the  lines  at  Brooklyn,  which  the  enemy 
immediately  invested  and  prepared  to  assault,  believing  them  to  be 
more  formidable  than  they  really  were.  WASHINGTON  had  seen  the 
latter  part  of  this  battle,  and  unwilling  to  hazard  the  loss  of  that 
whole  division,  he  determined  to  withdraw  it.  This  he  effected  in 
the  night  after  the  battle  with  such  secrecy  and  despatch,  that  the 
enemy  were  first  aware  of  their  retreat,  when  they  perceived  the 
rear  guard  crossing  the  East  river  in  the  morning.  From  the  com 
mencement  of  the  action  on  the  27th.  until  the  last  boat  left  Brook- 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

lyn  on  the  morning  of  the  29th,  WASHINGTON  was  without  rest  or 
sleep ;  and  was  most  of  the  time  on  horseback.  The  British  army 
were  within  musket  shot  of  the  lines,  yet  such  was  the  silence  and 
order  preserved,  that  nine  thousand  men,  with  their  arms  and  ammu 
nition,  and  most  of  the  provisions  and  cannon,  were  conveyed  across 
a  river  half  a  mile  broad,  without  confusion  or  interruption.  The 
skilful  execution  of  this  masterly  retreat  has  been  extolled  by  all 
writers  on  the  subject.  It  now  became  necessary  to  evacuate  New 
York  ;  and  after  a  short  stand  at  Kingsbridge,  the  American  army 
took  a  position  at  Whiteplains.  Here  a  battle  was  fought  which  was 
not  decisive  j  and  while  General  Howe  was  waiting  for  a  reinforce 
ment,  WASHINGTON  took  another  position,  which  the  British  com 
mander  considered  too  strong  to  be  attempted,  and,  after  endeavoring 
in  vain  to  draw  on  an  engagement  on  more  favorable  terms,  he 
changed  his  plan  of  operations,  marched  down  the  Hudson,  and  cap 
tured  fort  Washington,  on  York  island,  making  about  two  thousand 
prisoners.  This  was  a  serious  blow  to  the  American  cause,  and 
rendered  an  immediate  retreat  across  the  river  imperative.  Lord 
Cornwallis,  with  a  large  force,  followed  so  close  in  the  rear  of  the 
feeble  remnant  of  an  army  which  accompanied  WASHINGTON  into 
New  Jersey,  that  Fort  Lee,  on  that  side  of  the  river,  was  hastily 
abandoned,  and  with  it  nearly  all  the  artillery  and  baggage. 

It  was  now  late  in  November;  most  of  the  New  England  militia 
had  returned  home,  their  term  of  service  having  expired ;  on  the 
1st  of  December  the  Maryland  and  Jersey  levies  availed  themselves 
of  the  same  right  at  Brunswick,  even  while  the  enemy  were  in 
sight ;  the  loss  of  their  baggage,  sickness,  and  fatigue,  rendered  them 
impatient,  and  for  a  time  overcame  every  other  consideration.  The 
continental  troops,  wasted  daily  by  disease  and  desertion,  until  the 
grand  army,  on  which  hung  the  destinies  of  this  continent,  was 
reduced  to  three  thousand  men,  without  tents  or  camp  equipage, 
half  naked  and  bare-footed,  disheartened  by  misfortunes,  and  even 
hope  afar  off.  The  spirit  of  the  commander,  sustained  by  the  reso 
lution  and  firmness  of  his  officers,  carried  him  through  this  scene  of 
suffering  with  a  countenance  of  calm  self-possession,  which  saved 
the  army  from  immediate  dissolution.  On  the  8th  of  December  he 
crossed  the  Delaware,  and  secured  all  the  boats  to  prevent  the  pas 
sage  of  the  enemy.  The  British  army  entered  Trenton  as  the  last 
boat  of  the  Americans  left  it.  There  General  Howe  abandoned  the 
pursuit  until  the  ice  should  bridge  the  river ;  meanwhile  he  can 
toned  his  army  in  detachments  in  the  towns  along  the  left  bank  of 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON. 

the  Delaware,  and  at  Trenton  and  New  Brunswick.  WASHINGTON, 
whilst  gathering  strength  by  calling  in  the  distant  divisions  and 
volunteers,  with  secret  exultation  watched  the  detached  corps  of  the 
British  and  Hessians,  and  he  concerted  with  Gefierals  Cadwallader 
and  Irving,  a  simultaneous  attack  on  three  of  them.  That  which 
was  conducted  by  the  commander-in-chief,  was  alone  successful. 
His  troops  began  to  cross  the  Delaware  a  few  miles  above  Trenton, 
about  dusk  on  the  25th  of  December,  when  it  was  believed  the  enemy 
would  be  enjoying  the  festive  anniversary  in  confidence  of  safety. 
The  night  was  dark  and  very  cold,  and  the  passage  was  so  retarded 
by  a  high  wind,  a  swift  current  and  masses  of  floating  ice,  that  it 
was  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  before  they  could  be  formed  on  the 
Jersey  shore.  The  attack  was  made  in  two  columns  about  day 
break  ;  a  violent  snow  storm  driving  directly  in  the  faces  of  the 
assailants  at  the  time.  The  enemy  made  a  momentary  show  of 
resistance  by  a  wild  and  ill-directed  fire  from  their  quarters,  and 
attempted  to  form  on  the  main  street,  which  was  prevented  by  the 
fire  of  six  pieces  of  artillery.  "  When  Forrest's  battery  was  opened," 
says  General  Wilkinson,  '-the  general  kept  on  the  left,  and  advanc 
ing  with  it,  giving  objects  of  direction  to  his  fire ;  his  position  was 
an  exposed  one,  and  he  was  frequently  entreated  to  fall  back,  of 
which  he  took  no  notice  ;  he  had  turned  the  guns  on  the  retreating 
enemy,  when  to  an  order  for  the  discharge  of  cannister,  Captain 
Forrest  observed — 'Sir,  they  have  struck.'  'Struck!'  replied  the 
general.  'Yes,'  said  Forrest,  'their  colors  are  down.'  'So  they  are,' 
observed  the  chief,  and  galloped  towards  them."  A  troop  of  British 
dragoons,  and  about  five  hundred  infantry,  fled  down  the  river. 
The  main  body,  after  endeavoring  to  escape  by  the  right  towards 
Princeton,  surrendered  on  a  summons  from  the  general.  The  killed 
and  wounded  of  the  Americans  amounted  to  only  ten.  The  Hessian 
colonel,  Rahl,  with  six  other  officers  and  about  forty  men,  were 
killed,  and  twenty-three  officers  and  nearly  one  thousand  men, 
made  prisoners,  with  their  arms  and  accoutrements,  cannon,  &c., 
all  which  were  safely  conveyed  across  the  Delaware. 

This  achievement  changed  the  aspect  of  the  war,  raised  the  de 
sponding  spirits  of  the  people,  and  inspired  the  army  with  renewed 
zeal.  The  prisoners  having  been  disposed  of,  WASHINGTON  returned 
to  Trenton.  Cornwallis,  with  an  army  whose  strength  gave  him  a 
confidence  of  victory,  approached  on  the  afternoon  of  the  2d  of  Jan 
uary,  1777,  and  was  met  with  firmness  by  detachments  of  Americans 
who  disputed  his  approach  with  great  gallantry,  but  whose  only  object 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

was  to  wear  away  the  day  without  the  risk  of  a  general  engagement 
Night  at  length  suspended  the  fight,  while  the  hostile  armies  were 
separated  only  by  the  narrow  stream  over  which  the  last  detachment 
of  Americans  had  been  forced.  The  watch  fires  were  lighted,  guards 
doubled,  a  fatigue  party  set  to  work  on  an  entrenchment  within 
hearing  of  the  enemy's  sentinels,  and  every  appearance  kept  up  of  a 
determination  to  abide  the  result  of  a  battle  on  the  morrow  :  but  at 
midnight,  WASHINGTON  moved  his  little  army,  by  an  indirect  routa 
towards  Princeton,  where  was  posted  a  large  detachment  of  British 
troops.  This  manoeuvre  was  not  discovered  by  the  enemy  until 
morning,  when  the  firing  at  Princeton  announced  that  the  American 
army  was  nine  miles  in  their  rear,  and  their  magazines  at  Brunswick 
in  danger  of  destruction.  Early  on  the  morning  of  the  3d,  the 
advance  of  the  American  army  encountered  the  seventeenth  British 
regiment  near  Princeton,  and  after  a  short  action,  gave  way ;  WASH 
INGTON  now  formed  his  troops  into  a  close  column,  and  placing 
himself  at  their  head,  he  led  them  into  action.  The  struggle  was 
short,  but  fierce  and  obstinate.  The  seventeenth  regiment  was 
nearly  annihilated ;  two  other  British  regiments  threw  themselves 
into  the  college,  which  they  soon  abandoned,  and  made  a  precipitate 
retreat  towards  Brunswick  with  very  little  loss.  They  were  followed 
as  far  as  Kingston,  and  it  was  the  desire  of  every  officer  to  strike  at 
the  enemy's  post,  at  New  Brunswick  ;  but  the  men  were  too  much 
exhausted  by  hunger,  cold,  and  fatigue,  to  warrant  the  attempt; 
besides  which,  the  enemy  from  Trenton  were  exchanging  shot  with 
the  rear  guard.  The  army  was,  therefore,  conducted  by  the  way  of 
Rocky  Hill  and  Somerville,  to  Morristown,  where  they  went  into 
winter  quarters.  Here,  with  never  more,  but  often  less  than  one 
thousand  regulars,  and  about  two  thousand  militia,  WASHINGTON 
kept  the  enemy  in  check,  although  they  occupied  their  line  of  posts 
from  Brunswick  to  New  York  with  twenty-five  thousand  men. 

But  the  spirit  of  the  citizens  of  New  Jersey  was  now  roused  to 
exertion,  not  only  by  the  successes  of  their  countrymen,  but  also  oy 
the  insults,  injuries,  and  cruelty  of  the  foe,  particularly  the  Hessian 
troops,  who  had  overrun  the  middle  counties  of  that  state.  Taught 
by  the  bitter  experience  of  the  "  protection"  afforded  by  that  licentious 
soldiery,  the  militia  of  New  Jersey  watched  every  opportunity  to 
strike  the  enemy  wherever  their  foraging  or  reconnoitering  parties 
appeared,  and  their  frequent  success  greatly  relieved  the  commander- 
in-chief,  who  again  had  to  encounter  the  evils  arising  from  short 
enlistments.  He  had  often  remonstrated  with  congress  against  the 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON. 

practice  of  engaging  men  for  a  single  year,  but  the  prejudices  of  the 
country  against  a  standing  army  were  difficult  to  overcome.  Rely 
ing,  however,  on  the  integrity  and  wisdom  of  the  commander,  he 
was,  two  days  after  the  battle  of  Trenton,  invested  with  full  powers 
to  raise  sixteen  battalions  of  infantry,  three  thousand  cavalry,  three 
regiments  of  artillery,  and  a  corps  of  engineers;  to  establish  their  pay. 
form  magazines,  appoint  and  displace  officers,  under  the  rank  of 
brigadier-generals,  at  his  pleasure ;  and  to  take  whatever  he  might 
want,  wherever  he  might  be,  for  the  use  of  the  army ;  in  short,  so 
far  as  the  army  was  concerned,  his  powers  were  almost  dictatorial 
for  the  period  of  six  months. 

After  the  British  forces  had  obtained  possession  of  New  York, 
their  next  object  had  been  Philadelphia ;  in  this  they  had  been 
hitherto  effectually  baffled.  In  the  spring  of  1777  the  attempt  was 
renewed,  but  all  their  manoeuvres  to  draw  the  American  army  from 
their  advantageous  position  in  the  hills  were  ineffectual,  and  after 
some  trials  of  skill  between  the  hostile  commanders,  the  British 
resorted  to  their  ships.  They  embarked  from  New  York  in  July, 
and  entering  the  Chesapeake,  landed  at  the  head  of  Elk  on  the  25th 
of  August,  and  marched  towards  Philadelphia.  At  the  Brandy  wine, 
WASHINGTON  opposed  their  progress  on  the  10th  of  September,  but 
was  compelled  to  retire  with  considerable  loss.  On  the  sixteenth,  he 
once  more  determined  to  risk  an  engagement  to  save  Philadelphia, 
but  a  storm  of  unusual  violence  obliged  him  to  retire,  as  is  stated  in 
our  sketch  of  the  life  of  General  Wayne,  who  commanded  the 
attack.  On  the  twenty-fifth  of  the  same  month,  the  British  general 
took  possession  of  Philadelphia,  and  soon  after  formed  an  encamp 
ment  at  Germantown.  For  the  particulars  of  the  battle  which  was 
fought  there,  we  refer  (for  the  sake  of  avoiding  unnecessary  repeti 
tion)  to  the  life  of  Colonel  Howard.  The  British  forces  being  con 
centrated  in  Philadelphia,  and  their  ships,  after  some  gallant  resist 
ance,  having  obtained  command  of  the  Delaware,  WASHINGTON 
took  a  strong  position  at  White  Marsh.  Sir  William  Howe,  although 
in  command  of  a  vastly  superior  force,  found  himself  so  much 
restricted  by  the  proximity  of  the  American  army,  which  shut  him 
oat  from  a  rich,  and,  to  him,  necessary  country  for  supplies,  that  he 
marched  out  to  attack  it,  hoping  to  take  it  by  surprise,  but  he  was 
foiled  in  his  attempt,  and  returned  to  Philadelphia.  Determined  to 
defend  the  country  from  depredation,  WASHINGTON  selected  Valley 
Forge  for  winter  quarters.  Here,  while  the  foe  were  luxuriating 
in  the  comfortable  quarters  of  a  populous  and  wealthy  city,  the 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

Americans  were  sheltered  in  huts  of  their  own  fabrication,  and  fre 
quently  suffered  the  extremity  of  want.  The  commissary's  depart 
ment—imperfectly  organized  for  want  of  experience— had  given 
cause  for  frequent  complaints  j  congress,  by  endeavoring  to  apply  a 
remedy,  increased  the  distress  of  the  troops,  so  that  very  frequently 
their  movements  were  prevented,  and  the  plans  of  the  commander 
consequently  embarrassed.  He  frequently  and  earnestly  remon 
strated  ;  but  the  evil  was  not,  and,  indeed,  could  not  be  immediately 
obviated,  without  causing  much  distress  in  other  quarters.  Congress 
authorized  the  seizure  of  provisions  within  seventy  miles  of  head 
quarters,  and  although  WASHINGTON  was  compelled  by  the  necessi 
ties  of  his  army  to  avail  himself  of  the  authority,  he  exercised  it 
with  so  much  reluctance  and  forbearance,  that  the  wants  of  the 
troops  were  scarcely  satisfied,  and  congress  appeared  as  much  dissa 
tisfied  with  his  lenity  to  the  people,  as  the  inhabitants  were  by  what 
they  considered  a  rigorous  exercise  of  power.  At  this  time  a  party 
was  formed  in  congress  to  remove  the  commander-in-chief ;  a  few 
officers  of  the  army  encouraged  the  discontents,  by  comparing  the 
services  of  WASHINGTON  with  those  of  General  Gates, — forgetting, 
in  their  zeal,  the  fact,  that  the  one  had  repeatedly  fought  a  superior 
force,  and  that  the  other,  though  a  conqueror,  had  gained  his  laurels 
with  an  army,  regulars  and  militia,  of  nearly  three  times  the  nume 
rical  strength  of  his  opponents.  The  legislature  of  Pennsylvania, 
too,  added  their  voice  to  the  dissention,  by  remonstrating  against  the 
army  removing  into  winter  quarters.  But  the  machinations  of  fac 
tion  were  vain.  The  commander  possessed  the  confidence  of  the 
country,  and  was  beloved  by  the  army ;  and  even  the  troops  who  had 
served  under  General  Gates,  expressed  their  indignation  at  the  idea 
of  a  change.  The  only  effect  produced  in  the  country,  was  a  uni 
versal  excitement  of  resentment  against  those  who  were  believed  to 
be  inimical  to  the  chief.  Whilst  these  combinations  of  intrigue  and 
ambition  were  progressing,  the  sufferings  of  the  army  were  not 
ameliorated,  and  they  at  length  drew  from  the  commander  a  com 
munication  to  congress  of  unprecedented  plainness  and  energy.  He 
stated  his  conviction  that  unless  some  great  change  took  place  in  the 
commissary's  department,  the  army  would  inevitably  be  reduced  to 
starvation  or  dissolution — that  there  was  not  in  the  camp  a  single 
head  of  cattle  to  be  slaughtered,  and  not  more  than  twenty-five 
barrels  of  flour,  nor  could  the  commissary  tell  when  any  might  be 
expected  ;  and,  that  three  or  four  days  of  bad  weather  would  prove 
their  destruction — that  there  were  near  three  thousand  men  in  camp 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON. 

unfit  for  duty,  because  they  were  barefooted  and  otherwise  naked, 
besides  those  confined  in  the  hospitals  and  in  farm  houses  on  the 
same  account.  He  charged  it  home  to  those  who  had  remonstrated 
against  his  going  into  winter  quarters,  that  they  knew  the  nakedness 
of  the  troops  from  ocular  demonstration.  "  I  can  assure  those  gen 
tlemen,"  said  he,  "  that  it  is  much  easier  and  less  distressing  to  draw 
remonstrances  in  a  comfortable  room,  by  a  good  fireside,  than  to 
occupy  a  cold  bleak  hill,  and  sleep  under  frost  and  snow  without 
clothes  or  blankets ;  however,  although  they  seem  to  have  little  feel 
ing  for  the  naked  and  distressed  soldiers,  I  feel  superabundantly  for 
them,  and  from  my  soul  pity  those  miseries  which  it  is  not  in  my 
power  either  to  relieve  or  prevent." 

The  exertions  which  were  made  by  congress  and  the  state  govern 
ments,  at  length  afforded  relief,  but  in  the  mean  time  the  army  was 
supported  only  by  the  impressments  of  its  detachments. 

As  the  spring  approached,  unwearied  diligence  was  used  to  pre 
pare  for  the  ensuing  campaign.  The  troops  received  instruction 
from  the  Baron  Steuben,  a  Prussian  officer  of  great  merit,  and  every 
possible  effort  was  made  to  establish  order,  regularity,  and  discipline. 
Early  in  May,  177.8,  the  intelligence  was  received,  that  France  had 
recognised  the  independence  of  the  United  States  by  treaty,  and  the 
additional  information,  that  although  war  between  France  and 
Great  Britain  had  not  been  formally  declared,  it  had  commenced  in 
fact.  It  was  soon  after  known  that  a  naval  force,  which  had  been 
preparing  in  the  French  ports  in  anticipation  of  this  event,  was  to 
act  on  the  American  waters.  This  rendered  Philadelphia  an  unsafe 
position  to  the  British  army,  and  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  who  about,  this 
time  assumed  the  command,  made  immediate  preparation  to  eva 
cuate  it. 

He  crossed  the  Delaware  on  the  18th  of  June,  and  slowly  retired 
through  New  Jersey.  WASHINGTON  put  his  army  in  motion,  and 
crossed  the  river  a  few  miles  above,  and  advanced  on  a  line  parallel 
to  his  adversary,  with  whom  he  was  earnestly  desirous  to  close,  but 
in  this  he  was  opposed  by  the  advice  of  his  general  officers ;  when, 
however,  the  enemy  reached  Monmouth  court  house,  the  spirit  of 
enterprise,  which  had  been  so  long  restrained,  determined  him  not  to 
let  the  opportunity  pass  of  once  more  striking  at  the  foe.  He  ac 
cordingly  took  measures  to  draw  on  an  engagement,  and  the  battle 
of  Monmouth  was  fought  on  the  28th  of  June.  After  a  keenly  con 
tested  action,  both  armies,  overpowered  by  fatigue  and  the  excessive 
heat  of  the  day,  suspended  the  combat  on  the  approach  of  evening. 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

as  by  mutual  consent.  WASHINGTON,  wrapped  in  his  cloak,  lay 
that  night  on  the  field  in  the  midst  of  his  soldiers,  ready  to  renew 
the  battle  in  the  morning ;  but  the  enemy,  under  cover  of  the  night, 
retired  in  silence,  leaving  two  hundred  and  forty-nine  of  their  dead 
on  the  field.  The  British  army  embarked  at  Sandy  Hook,  and 
sailed  to  New  York,  and  the  Americans  once  more  took  a  position 
on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson. 

From  this  period  until  the  summer  of  1780,  WASHINGTON  was 
not  present  at  any  of  the  active  operations  of  the  war — these  being 
chiefly  conducted  in  the  states  south  of  the  Chesapeake  ;  in  the  mean 
time,  "  the  wretched  policy  of  short  enlistments"  laid  him  under  the 
disadvantage  of  raising  a  new  army  every  year,  under  circumstances 
of  difficulty  constantly  increasing,  until  it  had  become  almost  impos 
sible  to  raise  one  at  all.  The  alliance  with  France  had  induced  the 
pleasing  delusion  in  the  public  mind,  that  the  war  was  in  a  measure 
over ;  that  as  the  independence  of  the  United  States  had  been  recog 
nised  by  that  nation,  it  must  soon  cease  to  be  disputed  by  Great 
Britain.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  people  had  subsided — they  no 
longer  viewed  the  cause  as  one  in  which  each  individual  had  to  act 
a  part  in  person,  but  as  a  common  cause  which  all  were  to  pay  for : 
besides  which,  "  the  pernicious  divisions  and  factions  in  congress" 
were  fomented  and  increased  until  the  prospect  of  a  happy  issue 
appeared  to  the  chief  more  gloomy  than  at  any  former  period.  "  I 
have  seen  without  despondence,"  said  he  in  private  letter,  "  even  for 
a  moment,  the  hours  which  America  has  styled  her  gloomy  ones ; 
but  I  have  beheld  no  day  since  the  commencement  of  hostilities, 
when  I  have  thought  her  liberties  in  such  danger  as  at  present. 
Friends  and  foes  seem  now  to  combine  to  pull  down  the  goodly 
fabric  we  have  hitherto  been  raising  at  the  expense  of  so  much  time, 
blood,  and  treasure ;  and  unless  the  bodies  politic  will  exert  them 
selves  to  bring  things,  back  to  first  principles,  correct  abuses,  and 
punish  our  internal  foes,  inevitable  ruin  must  follow.  Indeed,  we 
seem  to  be  verging  so  fast  to  destruction,  that  I  am  filled  with  sensa 
tions,  to  which  I  have  been  a  stranger  until  these  three  months.  Our 
enemies  behold  with  exultation  and  joy,  how  effectually  we  labor 
for  their  benefit ;  and  from  being  in  a  state  of  absolute  despair,  and 
on  the  point  of  evacuating  America,  are  now  on  tiptoe.  Nothing, 
therefore,  in  my  judgment,  can  save  us  but  a  total  reformation  in  our 
own  conduct,  or  some  decisive  turn  of  affairs  in  Europe.  The 
former,  alas  !  to  our  shame  be  it  spoken,  is  less  likely  to  happen  than 
the  latter,  as  it  is  now  consistent  with  the  views  of  the  speculators, 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON. 

various  tribes  of  money  makers,  and  stock  jobbers  of  all  denomina 
tions,  to  continue  the  war  for  their  own  private  emolument,  without 
considering  that  this  avarice  and  thirst  for  gain  must  plunge  every 
thing,  including  themselves,  in  one  common  ruin."  These  causes 
certainly  protracted  the  war,  and  encouraged  the  enemy  to  persevere. 
They  determined  to  turn  their  force  against  the  less  populous  states 
of  the  south,  where  their  friends  and  foes  were  more  equally  balanced, 
and  where  opposition  from  the  eastern  states  must  be  brought  at 
great  expense  and  loss  of  time. 

But  early  in  May,  1780,  a  change  came  over  the  aspect  of  affairs, 
which  revived  the  latent  energies  and  hopes  of  the  country.     Lafay 
ette,  after  serving  in  the  army  with  WASHINGTON  from  the  battle 
of  Brandy  wine  to  that  of  Monmouth,  had  returned  to  France,  where 
he  had  made  such  a  representation  of  American  transactions,  as  had 
inspired  his  countrymen  with  his  own  generous  sentiments — now 
presented  himself  in  the  American  camp,  with  the  promise  from  the 
king  of  speedy  assistance  by  land  and  sea.     In  July,  a  French 
squadron  under  M.  de  Ternay,  with  between  five  and  six  thousand 
troops  under  the  Count  de  Rochambeau,  arrived  at  Newport.     That 
no  difficulties  might  arise  between  the  allied  forces,  WASHINGTON 
had  been  invested  with  the  chief  command  of  his  most  Christian 
majesty's  troops  in  America.     Whilst  the  French  ships  lay  at  New 
port,  waiting  the  arrival  of  a  reinforcement,  several  British  ships  of  the 
line  joined  the  fleet  at  New  York,  and  gave  it  such  a  decided  supe 
riority,  that  the  admiral  sailed  to  Rhode  Island  to  attack   Ternay, 
and  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  with  a  great  number  of  troops,  proceeded 
some  distance  up  the  sound  to  cooperate  by  land.     WASHINGTON 
immediately  put  his  army  in  motion,  and  rapidly  advanced  towards 
Kingsbridge,  but  the  sudden  return  of  the  British  troops  disappointed 
the  hopes  which  had  been  formed  of  seizing  New  York  in  their 
absence.     To  recover  that  city,  however,  was  a  measure  still  con 
templated  by  the  commander-in-chief,  and  he  took  possession  of  the 
ground  and  threw  up  some  works  at  Dobbs'  ferry,  ten  miles  above 
Kingsbridge ;  but  the  French  squadron  continuing  to  be  blockaded 
in  Newport  by  a  superior  force,  prevented  that  concert  of  action  which 
had  been  arranged  with  Rochambeau,  and  the  season  for  active 
operations  passed  away  without  any  important  result.     The  army 
kept  the  field  until  December,  when  it  retired  to  winter  quarters. 
But  winter  quarters  to  the  American  soldiers,  gave  but  a  change  of 
toils  and  an  increase  of  suffering.     The  present  season,  like  those 
which  had  preceded   it,  found  them  deficient  of  supplies — often 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

entirely  without  food,  exposed  to  the  rigors  of  winter  without  suita 
ble  clothing,  and  without  pay  for  the  services  of  the  year.  The  long 
suffering  patience  of  the  army  was  at  length  exhausted,  discontent 
spread  through  the  ranks,  venting  itself  in  murmurs  and  complaints, 
and  finally  in  an  extensive  revolt.  This  is  not  the  place  to  recount 
the  scenes  which  followed  in  consequence  of  the  short  sighted  policy 
of  the  government,  and  the  tardy  movements  of  the  states.  We 
would  not  divert  a  line  of  our  brief  space  from  the  direct  purpose  in 
hand,  but  so  intimately  blended  is  the  life  of  WASHINGTON  with 
the  history  of  his  time,  that  one  cannot  be  entirely  separated  from 
the  other ;  besides  which,  it  is  due  to  the  character  of  the  army  of 
the  revolution  that  the  record  should  here  be  made,  and  our  sympa 
thy  for  other  nations  should  never  efface  the  transcript  from  our 
hearts — that  for  manly  bearing  and  patient  endurance,  under  trials 
and  sufferings  of  every  possible  variety,  in  the  main  body  and  its 
divisions — whether  in  long  and  painful  marches,  in  hunger,  naked 
ness,  poverty,  or  disease,  in  hospitals  or  in  prison  ships,  in  battle 
with  the  enemy,  or  in  winter  quarters,  apparently  neglected  by  their 
countrymen — that  army  has  never  been  surpassed. 

France,  South  America,  Greece,  Poland  and  Hungary,  have  since 
excited  our  sensibilities  by  their  struggles  for  liberty,  and  the  silent 
aspirations  of  our  hearts,  and  the  open  actions  of  our  hands,  have 
borne  testimony  to  our  deep-felt  interest  in  their  success ;  but  there 
is  a  duty  which  we  owe  at  home  akin  to  filial  gratitude — to  treat 
the  few  survivors  of  our  revolutionary  soldiery  with  profound  vene 
ration,  and  to  lengthen  the  evening  of  their  days  by  a  kind  attention 
to  their  wants. 

In  every  situation  in  which  WASHINGTON  was  placed  during  the 
momentous  conflict,  he  adapted  his  means  to  the  proposed  end  with 
equal  firmness  and  judgment,  and  the  winter  of  1780-81  as  fully 
tested  his  qualities  as  a  military  commander,  under  circumstances 
of  peculiar  hazard,  as  any  other  period  of  his  command.  With  his 
army  in  the  condition  we  have  stated,  (one  half  of  which  dissolved 
as  usual  on  the  first  of  January,)  the  main  body  of  the  British  army 
in  New  York,  with  the  Hudson  open  to  their  ships,  he  yet  managed 
to  suppress  a  mutiny ;  to  keep  his  army  in  force ;  to  check  the  ope 
rations  of  the  enemy ;  to  carry  on  an  extensive  correspondence  with 
his  detached  officers,  numerous  influential  individuals,  and  the  state 
governments,  by  which  he  obtained  funds  to  pay  his  soldiers  in 
part ;  and,  in  addition,  he  made  time  to  impress  on  the  court  of  Ver 
sailles  his  own  views  of  the  present  and  future  capabilities  of  the 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON. 

country,  and  particularly  pressing  the  importance  of  an  immediate 
and  ample  supply  of  money,  and  the  maintenance  of  a  naval  supe 
riority  on  the  American  waters. 

As  the  spring  advanced,  WASHINGTON'S  plans  were  still  directed 
against  New  York,  that  being  the  stronghold  of  the  enemy's  power 
in  the  northern  states  ;  and  he  confidently  believed,  if  that  could  be 
reduced,  the  war  would  speedily  terminate.  For  several  months  a 
predatory  war  had  been  carried  on  in  the  lower  counties  of  Virginia 
by  divisions  of  the  British  arrny,  under  Arnold  and  Phillips.  When 
Cornwallis  advanced  from  Carolina  and  took  command  there  about 
the  middle  of  May,  he  continued  to  carry  on  his  operations  with 
vigor,  and  although  he  gained  no  permanent  advantage,  he  destroy 
ed  an  immense  amount  of  property.  About  the  1st  of  June,  the 
campaign  opened  on  the  Hudson  ;  the  French  auxiliaries  advanced 
and  formed  a  junction  with  the  Americans,  preparatory  to  a  grand 
attack  on  New  York.  At  this  time,  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  being  alarm 
ed  at  the  serious  danger  which  menaced  his  position,  recalled  a  part 
of  his  troops  from  Virginia ;  on  this,  Cornwallis  retired  to  Ports 
mouth,  but  a  reinforcement  of  near  three  thousand  European  troops 
arriving  at  New  York,  Clinton  countermanded  his  orders,  and 
directed  Cornwallis  to  take  a  position  on  the  Chesapeake  and  be 
ready  to  act  on  the  neighboring  states.  A  variety  of  circumstances, 
beyond  the  control  of  the  commander-in-chief,  rendering  the  project 
ed  enterprise  against  New  York  of  doubtful  expedience,  his  attention 
was  turned  towards  the  south,  and  when  he  learnt  that  de  Grasse, 
with  a  large  French  fleet  with  three  thousand  soldiers  on  board,  was 
to  sail  from  Cape  Francois  to  the  Chesapeake,  the  naval  superiority 
which  would  be  thus  obtained  decided  him  in  favor  of  southern 
operations.  He  directed  Lafayette  so  to  dispose  of  the  forces  in 
Virginia,  that  Cornwallis  could  not  escape  to  Charleston,  should  he 
make  the  attempt ;  but  the  British  commander,  looking  towards  the 
sea-board  for  relief,  as  well  as  in  compliance  with  his  orders,  collected 
his  whole  force,  and  entrenched  himself  at  Yorktown. 

WASHINGTON,  after  providing  for  the  defence  of  the  posts  on  the 
Hudson,  led  his  army  down  the  west  side  of  that  river,  so  as  to  mask 
his  intention  by  exciting  apprehensions  for  Staten  Island,  and  it  was 
not  until  he  had  passed  the  Delaware,  that  his  real  object  was  sus 
pected  by  the  British  commander.  When  the  allied  army  reached 
the  Chesapeake,  the  French  fleet  had  already  arrived  there,  and  the 
necessary  preparations  for  the  investment  of  Yorktown  being:  complet 
ed  in  a  few  days,  on  the  night  of  the  6th  of  October,  the  first  parallel 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

was  commenced  within  six  hundred  yards  of  the  British  lines,  and 
the  siege  was  pressed  with  such  effective  vigor,  that  on  the  17th, 
Cornwallis,  finding  his  position  no  longer  tenable,  beat  a  parley ;  and 
on  the  19th,  surrendered.  The  army,  amounting  to  seven  thousand 
men,  with  their  arms,  military  chest,  and  public  stores,  were  surren 
dered  to  WASHINGTON  ;  the  ships  and  seamen  to  the  Count  de  Grasse. 
This  was  the  last  military  achievement  in  which  the  commander- in- 
chief  was  personally  engaged. 

Happily  for  the  United  States,  the  people  of  Great  Britain,  weary 
of  the  protracted  and  unsuccessful  conflict,  now  became  clamorous 
for  peace ;  the  determination  of  the  king  and  his  ministers  at  length 
o*ave  way  to  the  popular  will ;  and  negotiations  were  commenced 
on  the  basis  of  the  independence  of  the  thirteen  provinces.  The 
overruling  care  of  a  beneficent  providence  had  been  manifested  in 
numerous  events  of  the  war,  but  in  none  more  plainly  than  in  this, 
that  when  the  means  of  maintaining  an  organized  resistance  failed, 
they  ceased  to  be  necessary.  But  the  prospect  of  p^ace  and  inde 
pendence  was  dimmed  by  the  abject  poverty  of  the  country,  and  by 
the  gloomy  fears  of  the  course  the  army  might  adopt  when  its  re 
duction  should  be  ordered.  For  a  long  time  it  had  been  sustained 
oy  temporary  expedients,  and  through  1782  almost  the  whole 
receipts  of  the  treasury  had  been  devoted  to  its  subsistence  alone. 
To  pay  the  troops  was  impossible,  and  yet  the  public  faith  had 
been  pledged,  not  only  for  their  pay,  but  for  half  pay  for  life  to  the 
officers.  This  pledge  had  retained  them  in  the  field  to  the  ruin  of 
their  private  affairs  ;  but  it  appeared  certain  that  when  they  should 
be  disbanded,  the  funds  for  that  purpose  would  never  be  supplied 
as  the  requisite  number  of  "  the  sovereign  states"  had  not  concurred 
in  the  measure. 

As  the  negotiations  for  peace  advanced,  the  irritation  of  the  army 
increased.  WASHINGTON  saw  the  gathering  storm,  and  determined 
to  remain  with  the  troops  and  give  the  weight  of  his  influence  to 
preserve  the  tranquillity  of  the  country,  although  his  presence  in  the 
camp  had  otherwise  ceased  to  be  necessary.  In  a  private  letter  to 
the  secretary  of  war,  after  expressing  his  conviction  that  the  officers 
would  return  to  private  life  with  alacrity,  could  they  be  placed  in 
suitable  circumstances,  he  adds,  "when  I  see  such  a  number  of 
men,  goaded  by  a  thousand  stings  of  reflection  on  the  past,  and  anti 
cipation  of  the  future,  about  to  be  turned  into  the  world,  soured  by 
penury,  and  what  they  call  the  ingratitude  of  the  public  j  involved 
in  debt,  without  one  farthing  of  money  to  carry  them  home,  after 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

having  spent  the  flower  of  their  days,  and  many  of  them  their  pa 
trimonies,  in  establishing  the  freedom  and  independence  of  their 
country ;  and  having  suffered  every  thing  which  human  nature  is 
capable  of  enduring  on  this  side  of  death.  I  repeat  it,  when  I  reflect 
on  these  irritating  circumstances,  unattended  by  one  thing  to  sooth 
their  feelings,  or  brighten  the  gloomy  prospect,  I  cannot  avoid  ap 
prehending  that  a  train  of  evils  will  follow  of  a  very  serious  nature." 

In  December,  1782,  when  the  army  was  settled  in  winter  quarters 
near  the  Hudson,  the  important  crisis  approached.  A  general 
opinion  prevailed  that  congress  possessed  neither  the  power  nor 
the  inclination  to  comply  with  its  engagements  to  the  army,  and  the 
officers,  with  a  desire  of  removing  the  obnoxious  features  of  the  half 
pay  establishment  without  foregoing  their  own  rights,  solicited  from 
congress  the  payment  of  the  money  actually  due  them,  and  a  com 
mutation  of  the  half  pay  for  a  sum  in  gross.  Three  months  passed 
away  without  any  prospect  of  relief;  in  the  mean  time  the  intelli 
gence  of  peace  was  received.  The  irritable  temper  of  the  army  now 
seemed  to  require  but  a  slight  impulse  to  impel  it  to  a  haughty  de 
mand  of  justice  from  th?  constituted  authorities,  or  to  assume  the 
power  of  redressing  their  own  grievances  by  some  desperate  effort. 
A  meeting  of  the  officers  was  called  by  an  anonymous  notice,  and  an 
address  to  the  army  was  privately  circulated,  which  was  well  calcu 
lated  to  inflame  their  passions  and  determine  them  to  immediate 
action,  "  courting  the  auspices  and  inviting  the  direction  of  their 
illustrious  leader."  Fortunately  the  patriotism  of  "  their  illustrious 
leader"  was  far  above  the  comprehension  of  that  ambition  which 
might  have  influenced  a  less  noble  spirit  to  "  pass  the  Rubicon."  At 
that  moment  the  destinies  of  his  country  were  undoubtedly  in  his 
keeping,  and  wisely  great  in  resolution  as  in  action,  he  turned  the 
threatened  evil  to  the  glory  of  his  country.  The  storm  was  still 
ed  ;  the  army  was  disbanded ;  and  on  the  4th  of  December,  the 
chief  bid  adieu  to  his  officers  in  New  York.  Endeared  to  each 
other  by  years  of  affectionate  intercourse  in  peril  and  in  triumph,  the 
hour  of  their  separation  was  solemn  and  affecting ;  the  thoughts  and 
feelings  of  the  party — too  intense  for  utterance — were  expressed  only 
by  the  silent  tear,  the  warm  grasp  of  the  hand,  and  the  quick  pulsa 
tion  of  heart  pressed  to  heart. 

Every  duty  of  the  station  to  which  he  had  been  appointed,  being 
now  fulfilled,  WASHINGTON  hastened  to  Annapolis,  where  congress 
was  then  in  session,  and  on  the  23d,  at  an  audience  appointed  for 
the  purpose,  he  returned  his  commission  to  the  hands  from  which 

19 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

he  had  received  it.  Thus  displaying  the  sublime  spectacle  of  a  tri 
umphant  warrior  in  the  fulness  of  his  fame,  divesting  himself  of 
power,  and  dedicating  the  laurels  he  had  won,  upon  the  altar  of  his 
country.  By  his  skill,  firmness,  perseverance,  and  industry ;  and  by 
the  happy  union  of  prudence  with  courage,  and  a  correct  judgment 
with  a  spirit  of  enterprise,  he  had  given  liberty,  peace,  and  a  name 
among  nations  to  his  country ;  but  by  this  last  act  of  public  virtue, 
he  consummated  his  own  glory,  and  "changed  mankind's  idea  of 
political  greatness."  Every  age  has  had  its  hero,  but  as  a  perfect 
pattern  of  pure,  disinterested  patriotism,  WASHINGTON,  as  yet,  re 
mains  without  a  parallel  in  the  annals  of  the  world.  To  call  him 
great,  would  be  to  class  him  with  the  Alexanders,  the  Cassars,  and 
the  Fredericks  of  other  nations,  he  is  therefore  more  justly,  appropri 
ately,  and  affectionately  designated  as  "  the  father  of  his  country." 

WASHINGTON,  having  retired  to  Mount  Yernon,  he  devoted  his 
attention  to  the  improvement  of  his  plantation,  with  a  resolution 
never  again  to  appear  in  public  life.  "  The  scene  is  at  length  closed," 
said  he,  three  days  after  his  arrival  there,  "  I  feel  myself  eased  of  a 
load  of  public  care,  and  hope  to  spend  the  remainder  of  my  days  in 
cultivating  the  affections  of  good  men,  and  the  practice  of  the  domes 
tic  virtues."  With  a  mind  capable  of  the  most  enlarged  views,  he 
traced  the  broad  map  of  his  country,  and  pointed  out  its  capabilities 
and  future  greatness.  In  a  letter  to  the  earl  of  Buchan,  written 
while  engaged  in  promoting  some  works  of  immediate  utility,  he 
said,  "  if  left  undisturbed,  we  shall  open  a  communication  by  water 
with  all  the  lakes  northward  and  westward  of  us,  with  which  we 
have  territorial  connexions ;  and  an  inland  in  a  few  years  more  from 
Rhode  Island  to  Georgia ;"  at  the  same  time  he  regarded  with  atten 
tion  every  improvement  in  the  economy  of  the  farmer. 

But  the  country  was  not  at  rest,  and  WASHINGTON  had  been  too 
deeply  interested  in  all  that  concerned  it,  to  be  allowed  to  withdraw 
his  attention  entirely  from  public  affairs  ;  indeed,  the  embarrassments 
of  the  government  gave  him  great  anxiety.  While  the  general  go 
vernment  was  dependent  on  the  separate  action  of  thirteen  indepen 
dent  state  sovereignties,  it  struggled  with  difficulties  which  could  not 
be  removed,  and  it  was  soon  discovered  that  the  whole  fabric  must 
fall  to  ruin,  or  a  new  system  be  adopted.  On  this  subject  there  ex 
isted  a  diversity  of  opinions  in  the  country,  which  rendered  the  result 
for  a  long  time  doubtful.  Tumults,  insurrections,  and  commotions 
agitated  all  reflecting  men.  At  length  a  convention  was  held  at 
Philadelphia  by  the  representatives  of  twelve  states  ;  WASHINGTON 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON. 

was  unanimously  chosen  president,  and  after  a  session  of  about  four 
months,  the  present  national  constitution  was  framed,  which  being 
afterwards  approved  by  tli3  people  of  eleven  states,  became  the  su 
preme  law. 

No  sooner  were  the  public  in  possession  of  this  instrument,  than 
their  attention  was  directed  to  WASHINGTON  as  the  only  man  to  be 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  nation.  His  consent  was  hard  to  win  ;  but 
overcome  by  the  entreaties  of  personal  friends,  and  in  obedience  to 
the  voice  of  the  people,  he  once  more  gave  himself  to  their  service, 
and  was  unanimously  elected  the  first  president  of  the  United  States. 
"  I  wish,"  said  he,  when  his  election  was  announced,  "  that  there 
may  not  be  reason  for  regretting  the  choice,  for  indeed  all  I  can 
promise,  is  to  accomplish  that  which  can  be  done  by  an  honest  zeal." 
Two  days  after,  he  "  bade  adieu  to  Mount  Vernon,  to  private  life,  and 
domestic  felicity,"  and  proceeded  to  the  seat  of  government. 

His  progress  from  Alexandria  to  New  York  was  marked  by  demon 
strations  of  veneration  and  affection  :  the  manner  of  his  reception  at 
Trenton,  was  so  truly  appropriate  and  affecting,  that  it  deserves 
especial  notice.  In  addition  to  the  usual  military  compliments,  the 
bridge  over  the  creek  running  through  the  town  was  covered  by  a 
triumphal  arch  supported  by  thirteen  pillars,  entwined  and  orna 
mented  with  flowers  and  laurel,  and  bearing  on  the  front  in  large 
gilt  letters, 

THE  DEFENDER  OP  THE   MOTHERS 

WILL  BE  THE 

PROTECTOR    OF    THE    DAUGHTERS. 

Here  were  assembled  the  mothers  and  daughters,  dressed  in  white, 
each  bearing  a  basket  of  flowers,  which  were  strown  before  the  chief, 
while  they  sang  in  chorus, 

Welcome,  mighty  chief,  once  more 
Welcome  to  this  grateful  shore ; 
Now  no  mercenary  foe 
Aims  again  the  fatal  blow, 
Aims  at  thee  the  fatal  blow. 

Virgins'  fair  and  matrons  grave, 
Those  thy  conquering  arms  did  save, 
Build  for  thee  triumphal  bowers ; 
Strew,  ye  fair,  his  way  with  flowers, 
Strew  your  hero's  way  with  flowers. 

On  the  23d  of  April,  1789,  WASHINGTON  arrived  at  New  York, 
and  on  the  30th  was  inaugurated  in  the  presence  of  an  immense  con 
course  of  citizens,  who  rent  the  air  with  joyous  acclamations. 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

His  administration  of  the  new  government  commenced  under  the 
pressure  of  numerous  embarrassments  ;  an  empty  treasury,  millions 
of  debt,  domestic  agitation,  and  foreign  intrigue.  The  president 
filled  the  departments  with  able  men,  solely  selected  with  a  reference 
to  justice  and  public  good,  and  gave  that  cast  to  the  administration 
of  national  affairs,  which  all  his  successors — however  most  of  them 
may  have  differed  from  him  in  abstract  opinions — have  found  it 
necessary  to  adopt  and  practice  on  great  and  important  occasions. 

In  the  fall  of  that  year  WASHINGTON  visited  the  New  England 
states,  and  experienced  great  satisfaction  in  witnessing  the  prosper 
ous  and  happy  condition  of  the  people;  in  this  tour  he  omitted 
Rhode  Island,  as  that  state  had  not  then  adopted  the  federal  consti 
tution,  but  he  visited  it  in  the  following  year ;  after  which  he  retired 
to  Mount  Yernon,  as  the  great  change  in  his  habits  of  life,  and  his 
close  application  to  the  duties  of  his  station,  had  so  much  impaired 
his  health,  that  a  respite  from  official  cares  was  not  to  be  deferred. 
In  1791,  he  passed  through  the  southern  states,  executing  on  his 
route  the  power  invested  in  him  of  selecting  the  place  for  the  future 
capital  of  the  nation. 

Although  the  constitution  had  been  adopted  by  a  majority  of  the 
people  in  all  the  states,  there  yet  remained  a  strong  party  in  most  of 
them,  jealous  of  the  power  of  the  government  of  the  union,  and  zeal 
ous  in  their  attachments  to  state  sovereignty ;  men  of  the  highest 
talents  and  purest  integrity  were  divided  in  their  opinions  on  this 
fundamental  principle,  which  all  the  improvement  in  the  condition 
of  the  country  could  not  reconcile.  Domestic  prosperity  and  a  few 
years  of  tranquillity  might  have  allayed  the  violence  of  party  excite 
ment,  but  the  turn  of  European  affairs  gave  it  a  new  impulse  and  a 
wider  range. 

When  the  French  revolution  began,  it  was  hailed  in  America  as 
the  dawn  of  liberty  in  Europe ;  and  as  there  were  parts  of  the  Bri 
tish  treaty  of  peace  which  had  not  been  promptly  executed  by  that 
power,  there  existed  a  strong  inclination  to  favor  France.  WASH 
INGTON  decided  on  a  neutral  course,  and  the  friends  of  the  adminis 
tration  on  this  point,  and  the  opposition,  very  generally  became 
identified  with  the  federal  and  anti-federal  parties.  The  firmness 
and  prudence  of  the  president,  aided  by  his  weight  of  character, 
preserved  the  country  from  being  precipitated  into  a  war,  but  it  was 
for  a  long  time  doubtful  whether  he  would  be  able  to  withstand  the 
tide  of  popular  inclination. 

22 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON. 

The  time  for  a  new  election  having1  arrived.  WASHINGTON  was 

O  ' 

again  unanimously  chosen  president. 

We  cannot  enter  upon  the  political  history  of  this  period,  without 
stepping  beyond  the  limits  of  our  plan,  and  at  last  falling  short  of  a 
satisfactory  narrative.  Of  the  sincerity  of  his  opinions,  the  fact  is 
sufficient  that  at  the  call  of  his  country,  he  surrendered  his  choice 
of  life,  and  risking  his  popularity  and  influence,  as  in  the  revolution 
he  had  risked  his  life  and  fortune,  when  all  might  be  lost  and,  per 
sonally,  nothing  to  be  gained;  of  the  wisdom  of  his  measures,  every 
succeeding  year  has  borne  ample  testimony ;  of  the  deep,  unwaver 
ing  love  he  bore  his  country,  his  whole  life  gave  evidence.  He 
sought  to  execute  the  trust  reposed  in  him  by  the  people,  honestly ; 
to  give  a  regular  operation  to  the  political  machine,  without  violence 
and  without  intrigue.  No  machiavelian  policy,  no  state  trickery 
was  practised ;  his  friends  and  his  foes  always  knew  where  to  find 
him,  and  foreign  powers  learned  to  rely  as  much  on  his  integrity  as 
his  own  constituents.  He  had  no  local  partialities  to  gratify,  no 
local  interests  to  subserve :  he  thought  and  acted  for  the  welfare  of 

/  O 

the  whole,  as  a  nation,  which  was  about  to  take  its  rank  in  the  scale 
of  empires,  and  on  whose  future  character  and  destinies,  his  admi 
nistration  must  have  an  enduring  influence. 

When  the  second  term  of  office  was  about  to  expire,  WASHINGTON 
declined  a  reelection  ;  and,  with  an  anxiety  worthy  of  his  character, 
to  render  a  lasting  benefit  to  his  country,  he  published  a  valedictory 
address,  in  which  he  warned,  admonished,  and  advised,  with  the  af 
fectionate  earnestness  of  a  father  and  the  sagacity  of  a  sage,  to  guard 
against  foreign  influence,  to  avoid  all  interference  with  European 
politics,  and  the  baneful  violence  of  party  spirit  and  sectional 
jealousy ;  above  all,  he  urged  the  importance  of  "  cherishing  a  cor 
dial,  habitual,  and  immovable  attachment  to  the  UNION,  as  the  main 
pillar  in  the  edifice  of  independence,  the  support  of  tranquillity  at 
home  and  peace  abroad ;  of  safety,  prosperity,  and  liberty." 

After  witnessing  the  inauguration  of  Mr.  Adams  as  his  successor 
in  office,  WASHINGTON  hastened  to  seek  at  Mount  Vernon  that  calm 
felicity,  that  happy  retirement,  which  he  had  long  fondly  anticipated; 
but  the  din  of  war  soon  broke  in  upon  the  tranquil  shades  of  his  retreat. 
The  spirit  of  the  veteran  soldier  was  roused  by  the  insults  offered  to 
his  country  by  France,  and  laying  aside  all  considerations  of  age  or 
ease,  he  accepted  the  chief  command  of  the  army  of  the  United 
States,  on  condition  that  he  should  not  be  called  into  the  field  until 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

his  presence  became  indispensable  ;— that  necessity  never  occurred,  but 
before  peace  was  restored,  WASHINGTON  was  no  more. 

On  the  night  of  the  13th  of  December,  1799,  (having  been  exposed 
to  a  shower  in  the  morning,)  he  was  attacked  by  an  inflammatory 
affection  of  the  throat,  and  in  twenty-four  hours  after,  the  first  lumi 
nary  of  America  was  removed  to  a  higher,  brighter,  happier  sphere. 

The  shock  of  this  event  fell  upon  the  country  with  the  unexpected 
suddenness  of  an  earthquake ;  dismay  and  affliction  suspended  all 
business ;  all  ages  and  classes  united  in  sorrow,  and  in  demonstrations 
of  veneration  and  love. 

On  the  18th  the  remains  of  Washington  were  deposited  in  the 
family  vault  at  Mount  Vernon,  a  spot  now  held  sacred  by  the  whole 
civilized  world.  Men  high  in  rank,  from  every  quarter  of  the  globe, 
continue  to  visit  his  tomb,  there  to  weep  over  the  truth,  that  even  the 
most  eminent  of  the  human  race  are  mortal.  A  grateful  country  will 
take  care  that  the  grave  of  Washington  shall  never  be  neglected. 

Having  thus  sketched  the  chief  events  in  the  life  of  this  extraordinary 
man,  very  little  more  seems  to  be  required :  the  value,  the  importance, 
the  results  of  that  life,  are  before  the  world.  Instead  of  thirteen  scat 
tered,  oppressed,  and  degraded  colonies,  struggling  in  poverty,  and 
united  only  by  the  resolution  to  be  free — we  have  a  glorious  land, 
stretching  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  presenting  already  more 
than  thirty  free,  rich,  and  independent  states,  and  the  prospect  of 
attaining  population,  intelligence  and  wealth,  far  beyond  what  the 
world  has  ever  yet  seen. 

We  close  in  the  language  applied  to  Washington,  used  by  Marshall 
and  Adams:  "Favored  of  heaven,  he  departed  without  exhibiting  the 
weakness  of  humanity  ;  magnanimous  in  death,  the  darkness  of  the 
grave  could  not  obscure  his  brightness."  "  For  himself,  he  had  lived 
long  enough  to  life  and  to  glory  ;  for  his  fellow  citizens,  if  their  prayers 
could  have  been  answered,  he  would  have  been  immortal." 

24 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

perished  while  in  the  service  of  his  country,  and  the  suite  of  the 
commander-in-chief,  at  the  siege  of  Yorktown,  1781,  aged  twenty- 
seven. 

On  the  decease  of  her  husband,  which  happened  at  about  middle 
age,  MRS.  CUSTIS  found  herself  at  once  a  very  young,  and  among 
the  very  wealthiest  widows  in  the  colony.  Independently  of  exten 
sive  and  valuable  landed  estates,  the  colonel  left  thirty  thousand 
pounds  sterling  in  money,  with  half  that  amount  to  his  only  daughter, 
Martha.  It  is  related  of  this  amiable  gentleman,  that,  when  on  his 
death  bed,  he  sent  for  a  tenant,  to  whom,  in  settling  an  account,  he 
was  due  one  shilling.  The  tenant  begged  that  the  colonel,  who  had 
ever  been  most  kind  to  his  tenantry,  would  not  trouble  himself  at  all 
about  such  a  trifle,  as  he,  the  tenant,  had  forgotten  it  long  ago.  "But 
I  have  not,"  rejoined  the  just  and  conscientious  landlord,  and  bidding 
his  creditor  take  up  the  coin,  which  had  been  purposely  placed  on 
his  pillow,  exclaimed,  "  Now  my  accounts  are  all  closed  with  this 
world:"  and  shortly  after  expired.  MRS.  CUSTIS,  as  sole  executrix, 
managed  the  extensive  landed  and  pecuniary  concerns  of  the  estates 
with  surprising  ability,  making  loans,  on  mortgage,  of  moneys,  and, 
through  her  stewards  and  agents,  conducting  the  sales  or  exporta 
tion  of  the  crops,  to  the  best  possible  advantage. 

While  on  the  subject  of  the  moneyed  concerns  of  seventy  years  ago, 
we  hope  to  be  pardoned  for  a  brief  digression.  The  orchard  of  line 
apple  trees  is  yet  standing  near  Bladensburg,  that  was  presented  to 
a  Mr.  Ross,  by  the  father  of  the  late  venerated  Charles  Carroll  of 
Carrollton,  as  a  recompense  for  Mr.  Ross's  having  introduced  to  Mr. 
Carroll  a  good  borrower  of  his  money.  A  Colonel  T.,  one  of  the 
ancient  dons  of  Maryland,  being  observed  riding  over  the  race  course 
of  Annapolis  in  a  very  disturbed  and  anxious  manner,  was  accosted 
by  his  friends,  with  a  "  What 's  the  matter,  colonel  ?  Are  you  alarmed 
for  the  success  of  your  filly,  about  to  start  ?"  "  Oh  no,"  replied  T., 
"but  I  have  a  thousand  pounds  by  me,  to  loan,  and  here  have  I  been 
riding  about  the  course  the  whole  morning,  and  not  a  single  bor 
rower  can  I  get  for  my  money."  We  opine,  that  the  same  anxieties 
would  not  be  long  suffered  now. 

It  was  in  1758,  that  an  officer,  attired  in  a  military  undress,  and 
attended  by  a  body  servant,  tall  and  militaire  as  his  chief,  crossed 
the  ferry  called  Williams',  over  the  Pamunkey,  a  branch  of  the  York 
iver.  On  the  boat  touching  the  southern,  or  New  Kent  side,  the 
soldiers  progress  was  arrested  by  one  of  those  personages,  who  give 
the  beau  ideal  of  the  Virginia  gentleman  of  the  old  regime,  the  very 


MRS.  MARTHA  WASHINGTON. 

soul  of  kindliness  and  hospitality.  It  was  in  vain  the  soldier  urged 
his  business  at  Williamsburg,  important  communications  to  the 
governor,  &c.  Mr.  Chamberlayne,  on  whose  domain  the  militaire 
had  just  landed,  would  hear  of  no  excuse.  Colonel  Washington 
was  a  name  and  character  so  dear  to  all  the  Virginians,  that  his 
passing  by  one  of  the  old  castles  of  Virginia,  without  calling  and 
partaking  of  the  hospitalities  of  the  host,  was  entirely  out  of  the 
question.  The  colonel,  however,  did  not  surrender  at  discretion, 
but  stoutly  maintained  his  ground,  till  Chamberlayne  bringing  up 
his  reserve,  in  the  intimation  that  he  would  introduce  his  friend  to 
a  young  and  charming  widow,  then  beneath  his  roof,  the  soldier 
capitulated,  on  condition  that  he  should  dine,  only  dine,  and  then, 
by  pressing  his  charger  and  borrowing  of  the  night,  he  would  reach 
Williamsburg  before  his  excellency  could  shake  off  his  morning 
slumbers.  Orders  were  accordingly  issued  to  Bishop,  the  colonel's 
body  servant  and  faithful  follower,  who,  together  with  the  fine 
English  charger,  had  been  bequeathed  by  the  dying  Braddock  to 
Major  Washington,  on  the  famed  and  fatal  field  of  the  Monongahela. 
Bishop,  bred  in  the  school  of  European  discipline,  raised  his  hand  to 
his  cap,  as  much  as  to  say,  "Your  honor's  orders  shall  be  obeyed/' 

The  colonel  now  proceeded  to  the  mansion,  and  was  introduced 
to  various  guests,  (for  when  was  a  Virginian  domicil  of  the  olden 
time  without  guests  ?)  and  above  all,  to  the  charming  widow.  Tra 
dition  relates  that  they  were  mutually  pleased  on  this  their  first 
interview,  nor  is  it  remarkable ;  they  were  of  an  age  when  impressions 
are  strongest.  The  lady  was  fair  to  behold,  of  fascinating  manners, 
and  splendidly  endowed  with  worldly  benefits.  The  hero,  fresh  from 
his  early  fields,  redolent  of  fame,  and  with  a  form  on  which  "every 
god  did  seem  to  set  his  seal,  to  give  the  world  assurance  of  a  man." 

The  morning  passed  pleasantly  away,  evening  came,  with  Bishop, 
true  to  his  orders  and  firm  at  his  post,  holding  the  favorite  charger  with 
the  one  hand,  while  the  other  was  waiting  to  offer  the  ready  stirrup. 
The  sun  sank  in  the  horizon,  and  yet  the  colonel  appeared  not.  And 
then  the  old  soldier  marvelled  at  his  chief's  delay.  "  'T  was  strange, 
'twas  passing  strange" — surely  he  was  not  wont  to  be  a  single 
moment  behind  his  appointments,  for  he  was  the  most  punctual  of 
all  punctual  men.  Meantime,  the  host  enjoyed  the  scene  of  the 
veteran  on  duty  at  the  gate,  while  the  colonel  was  so  agreeably 
employed  in  the  parlor ;  and  proclaiming  that  no  guest  ever  left  his 
house  after  sunset,  his  military  visitor  was,  without  much  difficulty, 
persuaded  to  order  Bishop  to  put  up  the  horses  for  the  night.  The 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

sun  rode  high  in  the  heavens  the  ensuing  day,  when  the  enamored 
soldier  pressed  with  his  spur  his  charger's  side,  and  speeded  on  his 
way  to  the  seat  of  government,  where,  having  despatched  his  public 
business,  he  retraced  his  steps,  and,  at  the  White  House,  the  engage 
ment  took  place,  with  preparations  for  the  marriage. 

And' much  hath  the  biographer  heard  of  that  marriage,  from  gray- 
haired  domestics,  who  waited  at  the  board  where  love  made  the 
feast  and  Washington  was  the  guest.  And  rare  arid  high  was  the 
revelry,  at  that  palmy  period  of  Virginia's  festal  age  ;  for  many  were 
gathered  to  that  marriage,  of  the  good,  the  great,  the  gifted,  and  the 
gay,  while  Virginia,  with  joyous  acclamation,  hailed  in  her  youthful 
hero  a  prosperous  and  happy  bridegroom. 

"  And  so  you  remember  when  Colonel  Washington  came  a  courting 
of  your  mistress?"  said  the  biographer  to  old  Cully,  in  his  hundredth 
year.  "  Aye,  master,  that  I  do,"  replied  this  ancient  family  servant, 
who  had  lived  to  see  five  generations  ;  "  great  times,  sir,  great  times  ! 
Shall  never  see  the  like  again !"  "  And  Washington  looked  some 
thing  like  a  man,  a  proper  man;  hey,  Cully?"  " Never  seed  the  like, 
sir ;  never  the  likes  of  him,  tho'  I  have  seen  many  in  my  day :  so 
tall,  so  straight !  and  then  he  sat  a  horse  and  rode  with  such  an  air  ! 

/  o 

Ah,  sir  ;  he  was  like  no  one  else  !  Many  of  the  grandest  gentlemen, 
in  their  gold  lace,  were  at  the  wedding,  but  none  looked  like  the 
man  himself!"  Strong,  indeed,  must  have  been  the  impressions 
which  the  person  and  manner  of  Washington  made  upon  the  rude, 
"  untutor'd  mind"  of  this  poor  negro,  since  the  lapse  of  three  quarters 
of  a  century  had  not  sufficed  to  efface  them. 

The  precise  date  of  the  marriage,  the  biographer  has  been  unable 
to  discover,  having  in  vain  searched  among  the  records  of  the  vestry 
of  St.  Peter's  church,  New  Kent,  of  which  the  Reverend  Mr.  Mossom, 
a  Cambridge  scholar,  was  the  rector,  and  performed  the  ceremony, 
it  is  believed,  about  1759.  A  short  time  after  their  marriage,  Colonel 
and  MRS.  WASHINGTON  removed  to  Mount  Vernon  on  the  Potomac, 
and  permanently  settled  there. 

The  mansion  of  Mount  Vernon,  more  than  seventy  years  ago, 
was  a  very  small  building,  compared  with  its  present  extent,  and  the 
numerous  out  buildings  attached  to  it.  The  mansion  house  consisted 
of  four  rooms  on  a  floor,  forming  the  centre  of  the  present  building, 
and  remained  pretty  much  in  that  state  up  to  1774,  when  Colonel 
Washington  repaired  to  the  first  congress  in  Philadelphia,  and  from 
thence  to  the  command-in-chief  of  the  armies  of  his  country,  assembled 
before  Cambridge,  July,  1775.  The  commander-in-chief  returned 


MRS.  MARTHA   WASHINGTON. 

no  more  to  reside  at  Mount  Vernon  till  after  the  peace  of  1783. 
MRS.  or  LADY  WASHINGTON,  as  we  shall  now  call  her,  such  being 
the  appellation  she  always  bore  in  the  army,  accompanied  the  gene 
ral  to  the  lines  before  Boston,  and  witnessed  its  siege  and  evacuation. 
She  then  returned  to  Virginia,  the  subsequent  campaigns  being  of  too 
momentous  a  character  to  allow  of  her  accompanying  the  army. 

At  the  close  of  each  campaign  an  aid-de-camp  repaired  to  Mount 
Vernon,  to  escort  the  lady  to  the  head-quarters.  The  arrival  of 
LADY  WASHINGTON  at  camp  was  an  event  much  anticipated,  and 
was  always  the  signal  for  the  ladies  of  the  general  officers  to  repair 
to  the  bosoms  of  their  lords.  The  arrival  of  the  aid-de-camp, 
escorting  the  plain  chariot,  with  the  neat  postillions  in  their  scarlet 
and  white  liveries,  was  deemed  an  epoch  in  the  army,  and  served  to 
diffuse  a  cheering  influence  amid  the  gloom  which  hung  over  our 
destinies  at  Valley  Forge,  Morristown,  and  West  Point.  LADY 
WASHINGTON  always  remained  at  the  head-quarters  till  the  opening 
of  the  campaign,  and  often  remarked,  in  after  life,  that  it  had  been 
her  fortune  to  hear  the  first  cannon  at  the  opening,  and  the  last  at 
the  closing,  of  all  the  campaigns  of  the  revolutionary  war.  During 
the  whole  of  that  mighty  period  when  we  struggled  for  independence. 
LADY  WASHINGTON  preserved  her  equanimity,  together  with  a  de 
gree  of  cheerfulness  that  inspired  all  around  her  with  the  brightest 
hopes  for  our  ultimate  success.  To  her  alone  a  heavy  cloud  of 
sorrow  hung  over  the  conclusion  of  the  glorious  campaign  of  1781. 
Her  only  child,  while  attending  to  his  duties  as  aid-de-camp  to  the 
general-in-chief,  during  the  siege  of  Yorktown,  was  seized  with  an 
attack  of  the  camp  fever,  then  raging  to  a  frightful  extent  within  the 
enemy's  intrenchments.  Ardently  attached  to  the  cause  of  his 
country,  having  witnessed  many  of  the  most  important  events  of  the 
revolutionary  contest,  from  the  siege  of  Boston,  in  1775,  to  the  virtual 
termination  of  the  war  in  1781,  the  sufferer  beheld  the  surrender  of 
the  British  army  on  the  memorable  19th  of  October,  and  was  thence 
removed  to  Eltham,  in  New  Kent,  where  he  was  attended  by  Dr. 
Craik,  chief  of  the  medical  staff.  Washington,  learning  the  extreme 
danger  of  his  step-son,  to  whom  he  was  greatly  attached,  privately 
left  the  camp  before  Yorktown,  while  yet  it  rang  with  the  shouts  of 
victory,  and,  attended  by  a  single  officer,  rode  with  all  speed  to 
Eltham.  It  was  just  day  dawn  when  the  commander-in-chief  sprung 
from  his  panting  charger,  and  summoning  Dr.  Craik  to  his  presence, 
inquired  if  there  was  any  hope.  Craik  shook  his  head,  when  the 
chief,  being  shown  into  a  private  room,  threw  himself  on  a  bed 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

absorbed  in  grief.  The  poor  sufferer,  being  in  his  last  agonies, 
soon  after  expired.  The  general  remained  for  some  time  closeted 
with  his  lady,  then  remounted  and  returned  to  the  camp. 

It  was  after  the  peace  of  1783,  that  General  Washington  set  in 
earnest  about  the  improvements  in  building  and  laying  off  the  gar 
dens  and  grounds  that  now  adorn  Mount  Vernon.  He  continued  in 
these  gratifying  employments,  occasionally  diversified  by  the  plea 
sures  of  the  chase,  till  1787,  when  he  was  called  to  preside  in  the 
convention  that  formed  the  present  constitution,  and  in  1789,  left  his 
beloved  retirement  to  assume  the  chief  magistracy  of  the  union. 
During  the  residence  of  General  and  MRS.  WASHINGTON  at  Mount 
Vernon,  after  the  peace  of  1783,  the  ancient  mansion,  always  the 
seat  of  hospitality,  was  crowded  with  guests.  The  officers  of  the 
French  and  American  armies,  with  many  strangers  of  distinction, 
hastened  to  pay  their  respects  to  the  victorious  general,  now  merged 
into  the  illustrious  farmer  of  Mount  Yernon.  During  these  stirring 
times  MRS.  WASHINGTON  performed  the  duties  of  a  Virginia  house 
wife,  and  presided  at  her  well -spread  board,  with  that  ease  and 
elegance  of  manners  which  always  distinguished  her.  At  length 
the  period  arrived  when  General  and  MRS.  WASHINGTON  were  to 
leave  the  delights  of  retirement,  and  to  enter  upon  new  and  elevated 
scenes  of  life.  The  unanimous  voice  of  his  country  hailed  the  hero 
who  had  so  lately  led  her  armies  to  victory,  as  the  chief  magistrate 
of  the  young  empire  about  to  dawn  upon  the  world. 

The  president  and  his  lady  bid  adieu  with  extreme  regret,  to  the 
tranquil  and  happy  shades  where  a  few  years  of  repose  had,  in 
great  measure,  effaced  the  effects  of  the  toils  and  anxieties  of  war ; 
where  a  little  Eden  had  bloomed  and  flourished  under  their  fostering 

o 

hands ;  and  where  a  numerous  circle  of  friends  and  relatives  would 
sensibly  feel  the  privation  of  their  departure.  They  departed,  and 
hastened  to  where  duty  called  the  man  of  his  country. 

The  journey  to  New  York,  in  1789,  was  a  continued  triumph. 
The  august  spectacle  at  the  bridge  of  Trenton  brought  tears  to  the 
eyes  of  the  chief,  and  forms  one  of  the  most  brilliant  recollections  ot 
the  age  of  Washington. 

Arrived  at  the  seat  of  the  federal  government,  the  president  and 
MRS.  WASHINGTON  formed  their  establishment  upon  a  scale  that, 
while  it  partook  of  all  the  attributes  of  our  republican  institutions, 
possessed  at  the  same  time  that  degree  of  dignity  and  regard  foi 
appearances,  so  necessary  to  give  to  our  infant  republic  respect  in 
the  eyes  of  the  world.  The  house  was  handsomely  furnished ;  the 


MRS.  MARTHA    WASHINGTON. 

equipages  neat,  with  horses  of  the  first  order;  the  servants  wore  the 
family  liveries;  and,  with  the  exception  of  a  steward  and  housekeeper, 
the  whole  establishment  differed  but  little  from  that  of  a  private 
gentleman.  On  Tuesdays,  from  three  to  four  o'clock,  the  president 
received  the  foreign  ambassadors  and  strangers  who  wished  to  be 
introduced  to  him.  On  these  occasions,  and  when  opening  the 
sessions  of  congress,  the  president  wore  a  dress  sword.  His  personal 
apparel  was  always  remarkable  for  its  being  old  fashioned,  and 
exceedingly  plain  and  neat.  On  Thursdays  were  the  congressional 
dinners,  and  on  Friday  nights,  MRS.  WASHINGTON'S  drawing  room. 
The  company  usually  assembled  about  seven,  and  rarely  staid 
exceeding  ten  o'clock.  The  ladies  were  seated,  and  the  president 
passed  around  the  circle,  paying  his  compliments  to  each.  At  the 
drawing  rooms,  Mrs.  Morris  always  sat  at  the  right  of  the  lady  presi 
dent,  and  at  all  the  dinners,  public  or  private,  at  which  Robert 
Morris  was  a  guest,  that  venerable  man  was  placed  at  the  right  of 
MRS.  WASHINGTON.  When  ladies  called  at  the  president's  mansion, 
the  habit  was  for  the  secretaries  and  gentlemen  of  the  president's 
household  to  hand  them  to  and  from  their  carriages  ;  but  when  the 
honored  relicts  of  Greene  and  Montgomery  came  to  the  presidoliad. 
the  president  himself  performed  these  complimentary  duties. 

On  the  great  national  festivals  of  the  fourth  of  July  and  twenty- 
second  of  February,  the  sages  of  the  revolutionary  congress  and  the 
officers  of  the  revolutionary  army  renewed  their  acquaintance  with 
MRS.  WASHINGTON  ;  many  and  kindly  greetings  took  place,  with 
many  a  recollection  of  the  days  of  trial.  The  Cincinnati,  after  paying 
their  respects  to  their  chief,  were  seen  to  file  off  toward  the  parlor, 
where  LADY  WASHINGTON  was  in  waiting  to  receive  them,  and 
where  Wayne,  and  Mifflin,  and  Dickenson,  and  Stewart,  and  Moy- 
lan,  and  Hartley,  and  a  host  of  veterans,  were  cordially  welcomed 
as  old  friends,  and  where  many  an  interesting  reminiscence  was 
called  up,  of  the  head  -quarters  and  the  "  times  of  the  revolution." 

On  Sundays,  unless  the  weather  was  uncommonly  severe,  the 
president  and  MRS.  WASHINGTON  attended  divine  service  at  Christ 
church ;  and  m  the  evenings,  the  president  read  to  MRS.  WASHING 
TON,  in  her  chamber,  a  sermon,  or  some  portion  from  the  sacred 
writings.  No  visiters,  with  the  exception  of  Mr.  Speaker  Trumbull, 
were  admitted  to  the  presidoliad  on  Sundays. 

There  was  one  description  of  visiters,  however,  to  be  found  about 
the  first  president's  mansion  on  all  days,  The  old  soldiers  repaired, 
as  they  said,  to  head-quarters,  just  to  inquire  after  the  health  of  his 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

excellency  and  LADY  WASHINGTON.  They  knew  his  excellency 
was  of  course  much  engaged ;  but  they  would  like  to  see  the  good 
lady.  One  had  been  a  soldier  of  the  life  guard ;  another  had  been  on 
duty  when  the  British  threatened  to  surprise  the  head-quarters ;  a 
third  had  witnessed  that  terrible  fellow,  Cornwallis,  surrender  his 
sword :  each  one  had  some  touching  appeal,  with  which  to  introduce 
himself  to  the  peaceful  head-quarters  of  the  presidoliad.  All  were 
"  kindly  bid  to  stay,"  were  conducted  to  the  steward's  apartments, 
and  refreshments  set  before  them ;  and,  after  receiving  some  little 
token  from  the  lady,  with  her  best  wishes  for  the  health  and  happi 
ness  of  an  old  soldier,  they  went  their  ways,  while  blessings  upon 
their  revered  commander  and  the  good  LADY  WASHINGTON,  were 
uttered  by  many  a  war-worn  veteran  of  the  revolution. 

In  the  spring  of  1797,  General  and  MRS.  WASHINGTON,  bidding 
adieu  to  public  life,  took  their  leave  of  the  seat  of  government  and 
journeyed  to  the  south,  prepared  in  good  earnest  to  spend  the  rem 
nant  of  their  days  in  their  beloved  retirement  of  Mount  Vernon.  The 
general  reassumed  with  delight  his  agricultural  employments,  while 
the  lady  bustled  again  amid  her  domestic  concerns,  showing  that 
neither  time  nor  her  late  elevated  station  had  in  any  wise  impaired 
her  qualifications  for  a  Virginia  housewife,  and  she  was  now  verging 
upon  threescore  and  ten. 

But  for  Washington  to  be  retired  at  Mount  Vernon  or  any  where 
else,  was  out  of  the  question.  Crowds  which  had  hailed  the  vic 
torious  general  as  the  deliverer  of  his  country,  and  called  him  with 
acclamation  to  the  chief  magistracy  of  the  infant  empire,  now  pressed 
to  his  retirement,  to  offer  their  love  and  admiration  to  the  illustrious 
farmer  of  Mount  Vernon. 

MRS.  WASHINGTON  was  an  uncommonly  early  riser,  leaving  her 
pillow  at  day  dawn  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  and  becoming  at  once 
actively  engaged  in  her  household  duties.  After  breakfast  she 
retired  for  an  hour  to  her  chamber,  which  hour  was  spent  in  prayer 
and  reading  the  Holy  Scriptures,  a  practice  that  she  never  omitted 
during  half  a  century  of  her  varied  life. 

Two  years  had  passed  happily  at  Mount  Vernon;  for  although  the 
general,  yielding  to  the  claims  of  his  country,  had  again  accepted  the 
command-in-chief  of  her  armies,  yet  he  had  stipulated  with  govern 
ment  that  he  should  not  leave  his  retirement,  unless  upon  the  actual 
invasion  of  an  enemy.  It  was  while  engaged  in  projecting  new  and 
ornamental  improvements  in  his  grounds,  that  the  fiat  of  the  Almighty 
went  forth,  calling  the  being,  the  measure  of  whose  earthly  fame  was 


MRS.  MARTHA   WASHINGTON. 

filled  to  overflowing,  to  his  great  reward  in  higher  and  better  worlds. 
The  illness  was  short  and  severe.  MRS.  WASHINGTON  left  not  the 
chamber  of  the  sufferer,  but  was  seen  kneeling  at  the  bedside,  her 
head  resting  upon  her  Bible,  which  had  been  her  solace  in  the  many 
and  heavy  afflictions  she  had  undergone.  Dr.  Craik,  the  early  friend 
and  companion  in  arms  of  the  chief,  replaced  the  hand,  which  was 
almost  pulseless,  upon  the  pillow,  while  he  turned  away  to  conceal 
the  tears  that  fast  chased  each  other  down  his  furrowed  cheeks. 
The  last  effort  of  the  expiring  Washington  was  worthy  of  the 
Roman  fame  of  his  life  and  character.  He  raised  himself  up,  and 
casting  a  look  of  benignity  on  all  around  him,  as  if  to  thank  them 
for  their  kindly  attentions,  he  composed  his  limbs,  closed  his  eyes, 
and  folding  his  arms  upon  his  bosom,  the  father  of  his  country 
expired,  gently  as  though  an  infant  died  ! 

The  afflicted  relict  could  with  difficulty  be  removed  from  the 
chamber  of  death,  to  which  she  returned  no  more,  but  occupied 
other  apartments  for  the  residue  of  her  days. 

By  an  arrangement  with  government,  MRS.  WASHINGTON  yielded 
the  remains  of  the  chief  to  the  prayer  of  the  nation,  as  expressed 
through  its  representatives  in  congress,  conditioning  that  at  her 
decease,  her  own  remains  should  accompany  those  of  her  husband 
to  the  capital. 

When  the  burst  of  grief  which  followed  the  death  of  the  pater 
patriae  had  a  little  subsided,  visits  of  condolence  to  the  bereaved 
lady  were  made  by  the  first  personages  of  the  land.  The  president 
of  the  United  States,  with  many  other  distinguished  individuals, 
repaired  to  Mount  Vernon,  while  letters,  addresses,  funeral  orations, 
and  all  the  tokens  of  sorrow  and  respect,  loaded  the  mails  from 
every  quarter  of  the  country,  offering  the  sublime  tribute  of  a  nation's 
mourning  for  a  nation's  benefactor. 

Although  the  great  sun  of  attraction  had  sunk  in  the  west,  still 
the  radiance  shed  by  his  illustrious  life  and  actions  drew  crowds  of 
pilgrims  to  his  tomb.  The  establishment  of  Mount  Yernon  was 
kept  up  to  its  former  standard,  and  the  lady  presided  with  her  wonted 
ease  and  dignity  of  manner  at  her  hospitable  board ;  she  relaxed  not 
in  her  attentions  to  her  domestic  concerns,  performing  the  arduous 
duties  of  the  mistress  of  so  extensive  an  establishment,  although  in 
the  sixty-ninth  year  of  her  age,  and  evidently  suffering  in  her  spirits, 
from  the  heavy  bereavement  she  had  so  lately  sustained. 

In  little  more  than  two  years  from  the  demise  of  the  chief,  MRS. 
WASHINGTON  became  alarmingly  ill  from  an  attack  of  bilious  fever 

9  Cl 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

From  her  advanced  age,  the  sorrow  that  had  preyed  upon  hei  spirits, 
and  the  severity  of  the  attack,  the  family  physician  gave  but  little 
hope  of  a  favorable  issue.  The  lady  herself  was  perfectly  aware 
that  her  hour  was  nigh ;  she  assembled  her  grand-children  at  her 
bedside,  discoursed  to  them  on  their  respective  duties  through  life, 
spoke  of  the  happy  influences  of  religion  upon  the  affairs  of  this 
world,  of  the  consolations  they  had  afforded  her  in  many  and  trying 
afflictions,  and  of  the  hopes  they  held  out  of  a  blessed  immortality; 
a»id  then,  surrounded  by  her  weeping  relatives,  friends,  and  domestics, 
the  venerable  relict  of  Washington  resigned  her  life  into  the  hands 
of  her  Creator,  in  the  seventy-first  year  of  her  age. 

Agreeably  to  her  direction,  her  remains  were  placed  in  a  leaden 
coffin,  and  entombed  by  the  side  of  those  of  the  chief,  to  await  the 
pleasure  of  the  government. 

In  person,  MRS.  WASHINGTON  was  well  formed,  and  somewhat 
below  the  middle  size.  To  judge  from  her  portrait  at  Arlington 
House,  done  by  Woolaston,  when  she  was  in  the  bloom  of  life,  she 
must  at  that  period  have  been  eminently  handsome.  In  her  dress, 
though  plain,  she  was  so  scrupulously  neat,  that  ladies  have  often 
wondered  how  MRS.  WASHINGTON  could  wear  a  gown  for  a  week, 
go  through  her  kitchen  and  laundries,  and  all  the  varieties  of  places 
in  the  routine  of  domestic  management,  and  yet  the  gown  retain  its 
snow-like  whiteness,  unsullied  by  even  a  single  speck.  In  her  con 
duct  to  her  servants,  her  discipline  was  prompt,  yet  humane,  and  her 
household  was  remarkable  for  the  excellence  of  its  domestics. 

Our  filial  task  is  done.  Few  females  have  ever  figured  in  the 
great  drama  of  life,  amid  scenes  so  varied  and  imposing,  with  so 
few  faults  and  so  many  virtues  as  the  subject  of  this  brief  memoir. 
Identified  with  the  father  of  his  country  in  the  great  events  which 
led  to  the  establishment  of  a  nation's  independence,  MRS.  WASH 
INGTON  necessarily  partook  much  of  his  thoughts,  his  councils,  and 
his  views.  Often  at  his  side  in  that  awful  period  that  "  tried  men's 
souls,"  her  cheerfulness  soothed  his  anxieties,  her  firmness  inspired 
confidence,  while  her  devotional  piety  toward  the  Supreme  Being 
enabled  her  to  discern  a  ray  of  hope,  amid  the  darkness  of  an  horizon 
clouded  by  despair. 

After  a  long  life  abounding  in  vicissitudes,  having  a  full  measure 
of  sorrows  but  with  many  and  high  enjoyments,  the  venerable 
MARTHA  WASHINGTON  descended  to  the  grave,  cheered  by  the 
prospect  of  a  blessed  immortality,  and  mourned  by  the  millions  of  a 
mighty  empire. 


7,nLgra.ved-5y  HP)  HalLfrom  an  original  Tortrait  jjyj  G-.  Stus 


nimiS' 


,  in  A 

pr<  . 
was  hi£ 

derable  affluence.     I? 
esteemed  and  well  known  ;  he  had  been  OD 

determining  the  boundary  between  Virginia  aacl  and 

at  his  death  he  left  his  son  an  ample  and  unemlv 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON  was  educated  at  t! 
Mary,  it.  <*,  and,  ?s. 

. 

. 


of  a  fonr.nl 
this  rewHit 


<  sfic  h 

?o  well  fitUni  h  i  i n  10  enjo\- 
tle  more  than  tt-  :  y^tr* 

2  sole  guardian  of  two  info**  £M 
i 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

tion  he  devoted  himself  with  a  zeal  that  might  compensate  them  for 
their  untimely  loss. 

In  the  early  part  of  1773,  the  first  organized  system  of  colonial 
resistance  was  established  by  the  formation  of  committees  of  corre 
spondence  in  the  different  provinces.  This  plan  was  devised  and 
arranged  by  Mr.  JEFFERSON,  who  privately  assembled  some  of  the 
bolder  spirits  of  the  state,  at  a  public  house  called  the  Raleigh  tavern, 
in  Richmond,  and  suggested  it  to  them.  It  was  eagerly  adopted,  and 
its  benefits  became  strikingly  apparent,  when  in  the  following  year 
the  measures  of  the  British  government  showed  the  increased  neces 
sity  of  united  and  resolute  resistance.  The  passage  of  the  Boston 
port  act,  and  the  bills  which  immediately  followed  it,  had  filled  up  the 
measure  of  insult  and  oppression.  At  this  crisis,  not  content  with 
his  labors,  which  were  constant  as  a  member  of  the  legislature,  he 
wrote  and  published  "  A  Summary  View  of  the  Rights  of  British  Ame 
rica."  This  he  designed  as  an  exposition,  to  be  laid  before  the  British 
sovereign,  of  the  wrongs  inflicted  on  America,  and  the  sort  of  redress 
she  would  demand.  ""Open  your  breast,  sire,"  he  says,  addressing  the 
king,  "to  liberal  and  expanded  thought.  It  behoves  you  to  think 
and  act  for  your  people.  The  great  principles  of  right  and  wrong 
are  legible  to  every  reader ;  to  peruse  them,  requires  not  the  aid  of 
many  counsellors.  The  whole  art  of  government  consists  in  the  art 
of  being  honest."  For  this  publication,  Lord  Dunmore,  the  royal 
governor,  threatened  to  prosecute  him  on  a  charge  of  high  treason,  and 
dissolved  the  legislature  who  had  by  their  resolutions  sustained  the 
same  doctrines.  When  the  conciliatory  propositions  of  the  British 
ministry  were  sent  out  in  the  following  year,  the  legislature  was  again 
assembled,  and  they  were  referred  to  a  committee,  who  immediately 
presented  a  reply  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  JEFFERSON.  This  document, 
which  is  to  be  found  in  the  histories  of  that  period,  has  ever  been 
considered  as  a  state  paper  of  the  highest  order ;  and  it  announced,  in 
a  great  degree,  the  same  sentiments  as  those  which  its  author  after 
wards  promulgated  in  the  declaration  of  independence.  It  was  hardly 
drawn  up,  when  he  was  called  to  a  wider  scene.  The  colonies  had 
determined  to  unite  together,  and  send  delegates  to  a  general  congress 
In  this  body,  then  in  session  at  Philadelphia,  Mr.  JEFFERSON  took  his 
seat  on  the  21st  of  June,  1775,  and  became  immediately,  what  he 
always  continued  to  be,  one  of  its  most  distinguished  members.  In 
the  following  summer,  the  debates  of  congress,  and  the  various 
expressions  of  public  sentiment,  showed  that  the  time  had  arrived  for 
a  final  and  entire  separation  from  Great  Britain  ;  and  a  committee  was 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON. 

appointed  to  draft  a  declaration  to  that  effect.  Of  this,  Mr.  JEFFER 
SON  was  the  chairman,  and  prepared,  in  conformity  to  the  instructions 
of  congress,  the  declaration  of  independence,  which,  after  a  few  altera 
tions,  was  adopted  on  the  4th  of  July,  1776. 

During  the  summer  of  this  year,  Mr.  JEFFERSON  took  an  active 
part  in  the  public  deliberations  and  business.  Being  obliged,  how 
ever,  in  the  autumn,  to  return  to  Virginia,  he  Was  during  his  absence 
appointed,  in  conjunction  with  Dr.  Franklin  and  Mr.  Deane,  a  com 
missioner  to  the  court  of  France,  for  the  purpose  of  arranging  with 
that  nation  a  measure,  now  become  of  vital  necessity,  the  formation 
of  treaties  of  alliance  and  commerce.  Owing  to  his  ill  health,  the 
situation  of  his  family,  and  the  state  of  public  affairs  in  his  own  state, 
he  considered  it  more  useful  for  him  to  remain  in  America,  and 
therefore  declined  the  ^appointment.  He  also,  shortly  afterwards, 
resigned  his  situation  in  congress,  and,  being  elected  to  the  first 
legislature  assembled  under  the  new  constitution  in  Virginia,  seized 
that  favorable  occasion  to  introduce  changes  and  amendments  in  the 
laws  and  institutions,  founded  on  the  just  and  great  principles  of  the 
social  compact.  He  was  supported  by  able  coadjutors,  it  is  true ;  but 
the  leading  and  most  important  laws  were  prepared  by  him,  and 
carried  chiefly  by  his  own  efforts.  The  first  of  these  measures  was 
to  kitroduce  a  bill  preventing  the  importation  of  slaves ;  this  he  fol 
lowed  up  by  destroying  entails,  and  abolishing  the  rights  of  primogeni 
ture:  the  overthrow  of  the  church  establishment,  which  had  been 
introduced  in  imitation  of  that  of  England,  was  a  task  of  less  ease,  but 
effected  at  length  by  his  continued  efforts.  To  these  four  cardinal 
measures  is  to  be  added  his  labor  in  revising  and  reducing  to  system 
the  various  and  irregular  enactments  of  the  colonial  government  and 
the  mother  country.  It  was,  perhaps,  the  most  severe  of  his  public 
services.  It  consisted  of  a  hundred  and  twenty-six  bills,  comprising 
and  remodelling  the  whole  statutory  law ;  and,  though  not  all  enacted 
as  he  contemplated,  so  as  to  make  a  single  and  complete  code,  they 
have  formed  the  admirable  basis  of  the  jurisprudence  of  Virginia. 

In  June,  1779,  he  was  elected  governor  of  Virginia,  and  re  elected 
the  next  year.  This  was  a  season  of  imminent  peril :  the  state  was 
invaded  at  once  on  the  north  and  the  south,  ravaged  by  the  troops  of 
Tarleton  and  Arnold,  and  he  himself  made  the  object  of  particular 
pursuit.  Amid  all  these  difficulties,  he  conducted  the  affairs  of  the 
state  with  a  prudence  and  energy,  the  more  to  be  appreciated  and 
honored,  from  the  unpropitious  circumstances  under  which  they  were 
displayed.  The  legislature,  alter  the  expiration  of  his  term,  passed  a 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS 

unanimous  resolution  expressing  to  him  their  thanks  for  his  services, 
and  their  high  opinion  of  his  ability,  rectitude,  and  integrity. 

In  June,  1783,  Mr.  JEFFERSON  was  again  elected  a  delegate  to 
congress  from  the  state  of  Virginia,  and,  while  in  that  body,  was 
intrusted  with  preparing  the  beautiful  address  made  by  congress  to 
General  Washington,  when  he  surrendered  his  commission,  and  took 
leave  of  public  life.  He  was  also  the  chairman  of  a  committee  appointed 
to  form  a  plan  for  a  temporary  government  in  the  vast  territory  yet 
unsettled,  west  of  the  mountains.  Never  forgetting  his  purpose,  to 
provide  for  the  ultimate  emancipation  of  the  negroes,  he  introduced  a 
clause  forbidding  the  existence  of  slavery  in  it,  after  the  year  1800. 

On  the  7th  of  May,  1784,  congress  decided  that  a  minister  plenipo 
tentiary  should  be  appointed,  in  addition  to  Mr.  Adams  and  Dr. 
Franklin,  for  the  purpose  of  negotiating  treatfes  of  commerce.  To 
this  honorable  office  Mr.  JEFFERSON  was  immediately  elected,  and 
in  the  month  of  July  sailed  for  France,  where  he  arrived  on  the  6th 
of  August.  He  remained  in  Europe  till  the  23d  of  November,  1789, 
visiting,  during  that  period,  Holland,  the  northern  parts  of  Italy,  and 
the  principal  seaports  on  the  southern  and  western  coasts  of  France. 
He  also  crossed  over  to  England,  and  endeavored,  in  concert  with  Mr. 
Adams,  to  effect  a  commercial  treaty.  Their  efforts,  however,  were 
unavailing ;  and  after  a  fruitless  visit  of  seven  weeks  in  London,  he 
returned  to  Paris. 

While  Mr.  JEFFERSON  resided  in  France,  he  was  engaged  in  many 
diplomatic  negotiations  of  considerable  importance  to  his  own  country. 
He  induced  the  government  to  abolish  several  monopolies  ;  he  secured 
the  free  admission  of  tobacco,  rice,  whale-oil,  salted  fish,  and  flour ; 
and  he  obtained  the  right  of  exporting  the  two  latter  articles  to  the 
West  Indies.  Among  men  of  letters,  science,  and  high  political  dis 
tinction,  he  was  received  with  marked  kindness,  and  soon  regarded 
as  no  unworthy  successor  of  the  illustrious  Franklin.  The  Abbe 
Morrellet  translated  his  little  work  on  Virginia;  Condorcet  and 
D'Alembert  claimed  him  as  their  friend;  and  he  was  invited  and 
welcomed  among  the  literary  institutions,  and  the  most  brilliant  social 
assemblies  of  Paris.  During  the  remainder  of  his  stay  there,  he  was 
an  eye-witness  too  of  the  extraordinary  occurrences  in  public  affairs 
which  took  place  in  rapid  succession.  As  the  representative  of  a 
nation  which  had  given  a  brilliant  example  of  free  institutions,  he 
was  himself  an  object  of  interest  and  attention  to  the  actors  in  these 
new  scenes.  He  was,  from  circumstances,  much  acquainted  with  the 
fading  patriots  of  the  national  assembly,  arid  they  were  naturally 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

disposed  to  seek  his  advice,  and  place  confidence  in  his  opinions. 
These  he  never  hesitated  to  avow,  so  far  as  his  position,  as  a  public 
functionary,  admitted  him  with  propriety  to  do.  His  stay  did  not 
extend  to  the  fatal  period  which  was  marked  by  the  horrible  excesses 
)f  popular  frenzy ;  and  the  interest  he  took  in  the  French  revolution 
was  warmed  by  the  hope  that  a  noble  people  were  to  be  redeemed 
from  despotism  to  rational  liberty. 

In  November,  1789,  he  obtained  leave  of  absence,  and  returned  to 
the  United  States  on  a  temporary  visit.  He  found  the  new  federal 
government  in  operation,  and,  after  some  hesitation,  accepted  the  office 
of  secretary  of  state,  which  was  offered  him  by  General  Washington, 
instead  of  returning,  as  he  had  intended,  to  his  post  of  minister  to 
France.  Though  absent  when  the  constitution  was  adopted,  he  had 
seen  too  glaringly  the  inefficiency  of  the  former  imperfect  confedera 
tion,  not  to  rejoice  at  its  formation.  Of  the  great  mass  of  it  he 
approved,  though  there  were  points  in  which  he  thought  there  was 
not  adequate  security  for  individual  rights.  Most  of  these  were  after 
wards  provided  for,  in  amendments  ratified  by  the  states.  In  his 
practical  interpretations  of  that  instrument,  and  the  various  powers 
it  confers,  he  at  once  adopted  the  more  popular  view ;  and  in  the 
course  of  those  political  contests,  which  soon  afterward  arose  on 
this  subject,  he  became  the  head  of  the  party  which  sustained  it. 
While  in  the  department  of  state,  he  laid  down  the  great  maxims 
relative  to  our  foreign  intercourse  which  were  ever  after  regarded 
as  the  true  ones  by  the  American  people.  Among  other  negotia 
tions  he  became  especially  engaged  in  one  with  the  ministers  from 
the  French  republic,  which  seriously  involved  the  political  rights 
of  the  United  States,  as  a  neutral  nation,  and  led  to  the  adoption  and 
assertion  of  that  policy,  since  so  emphatically  confirmed,  of  preserving 
peace,  commerce,  and  friendship  with  all  nations,  but  entering  into 
entangling  alliances  with  none.  This  correspondence  forms  one  of 
the  most  important  and  interesting  features  in  our  political  history, 
and  while  it  laid  down,  on  a  solid  basis,  the  foundations  and  rules  of 
our  foreign  intercourse,  it  developed  with  great  strength  of  argument 
nearly  all  the  leading  principles  which  ought  to  govern  the  conduct 
of  a  neutral  nation.  In  devoting  himself  to  those  measures  of  domestic 
policy  which  were  appropriate  to  his  office,  he  called  the  attention  of 
congress  to  one  subject,  the  nature  and  importance  of  which  not  only 
demanded  the  exercise  of  his  mature  judgment,  but  required  in  its 
investigation  that  scientific  knowledge  which  his  studies  had  enabled 
him  to  acquire.  This  was  a  unifcr  m  system  of  currency,  weights, 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

and  measures.  His  report  abounds  with  the  most  enligntened  views 
of  this  important  practical  subject,  and  it  is  only  to  be  regretted  tha' 
they  were  not  adopted  at  that  early  period.  If  they  had  been,  we 
should  long  ere  this  have  been  relieved  from  the  incongruities  of 
a  system  made  by  custom  every  day  worse.  Mr.  JEFFERSON  also  pre 
sented  to  congress  an  elaborate  and  valuable  memoir  on  the  subject 
of  the  cod  and  whale  fisheries,  and  he  recommended  many  measures 
judiciously  adapted  to  defeat  the  efforts  of  foreign  governments  against 
our  increasing  commerce,  and  to  open  new  markets  for  our  enterprise. 
His  last  act  as  secretary  of  state  was  a  report  on  the  nature  and 
extent  of  the  privileges  and  restrictions  of  the  commercial  intercourse 
of  the  United  States  with  other  countries,  and  on  the  best  means  of 
counteracting  them.  This  document  displayed  much  ability,  and 
attracted  great  attention.  It  gave  rise  to  one  of  the  longest  and  most 
interesting  discussions  which  have  ever  agitated  the  national  legisla 
ture.  It  was  the  foundation  of  a  series  of  resolutions,  proposed  by 
Mr.  Madison,  sanctioning  the  views  it  embraced;  and  it  became  in 
fact  the  ostensible  subject  whereon  the  federal  and  republican  parties 
distinctly  arrayed  themselves  against  each  other. 

On  the  31st  of  December,  1793,  Mr.  JEFFERSON  resigned  his  office, 
and  retired  to  private  life.  He  there  devoted  himself  to  the  education 
of  his  family,  the  cultivation  of  his  estate,  and  the  pursuit  of  his  philo 
sophical  studies,  which  he  had  so  long  abandoned,  and  to  which  he 
returned  with  new  ardor.  The  Duke  de  Liancouft,  a  French 
gentleman  travelling  at  that  time  through  the  United  States,  visited 
him  at  Monticello,  and  has  given  a  pleasing  narrative  of  the  manner 
in  which  the  life  of  the  retired  statesman  was  past.  "  His  conversa 
tion,"  he  says,  "  is  of  the  most  agreeable  kind,  and  he  possesses  a  stock 
of  information  not  inferior  to  any  other  man.  In  Europe  he  would 
hold  a  distinguished  rank  among  men  of  letters,  and  as  such  he  has 
already  appeared  there.  At  present  he  is  employed  with  activity  and 
perseverance  in  the  management  of  his  farms  and  buildings  ;  and  he 
orders,  directs,  and  pursues  in  the  minutest  detail,  every  branch  of 
business  relating  to  them.  I  found  him  in  the  midst  of  harvest,  from 
which  the  scorching  heat  of  the  sun  does  not  prevent  his  attendance. 
His  negroes  are  nourished,  clothed,  and  treated  as  well  as  white 
servants  could  be.  Every  article  is  made  on  his  farm ;  his  negroes 
being  cabinet-makers,  carpenters,  and  masons.  The  children  he 
employs  in  a  nail  manufactory ;  and  the  young  and  old  negresses  spin 
ror  the  clothing  of  the  rest.  He  animates  them  all  by  rewards  and 
distinctions.  In  fine,  his  superior  mind  directs  the  management  of 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

his  domestic  concerns  with  the  same  abilities,  activity,  and  regi  Parity 
which  he  evinced  in  the  conduct  of  public  affairs,  and  which  he  is 
calculated  to  display  in  every  situation  of  life."     It  was  at  this  period 
of  his  retirement,  that  he  received  a  testimony  of  his  merits  with  which 
he  was  peculiarly  gratified.     He  was  unanimously  elected  president 
of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  the  oldest  and  most  distin 
guished  institution  of  the  kind  in  the  United  States.     The  chair  had 
been  filled,  first  by  the  illustrious  Franklin,  and  since  by  Rittenhouse, 
one  of  the  ablest  astronomers  of  the  a^e.     To  be  chosen  as  their 

^^3 

successor,  was  an  honor  to  which  Mr.  JEFFERSON  could  not  be  insen 
sible  ;  and  during  the  long  period  that  he  presided  over  the  society, 
he  repaid  their  compliment  by  promoting  the  cause  of  science  with 
constant  zeal,  and  extending  to  it  all  the  advantages  which  his  public 
rank  and  private  connections  enabled  him  to  afford. 

Mr.  JEFFERSON  was  not,  however,  long  permitted  by  his  country 
men  to  enjoy  the  tranquillity  of  retirement.  In  the  month  of  Septem 
ber,  1796,  General  Washington,  in  his  farewell  address,  made  known 
to  the  people  his  wish  not  to  be  again  a  candidate  for  the  presidency. 
The  two  parties  which,  as  has  been  observed,  had  gradually  grown 
up  in  the  republic,  no  longer  able  to  unite,  as  in  the  case  of  Washing 
ton,  on  a  single  individual  to  whom  both  were  willing  to  confide  the 
administration  of  public  affairs,  now  determined  each  to  support  a 
candidate,  whose  political  opinions  were  entirely  congenial  with  their 
own.  Mr.  JEFFERSON  was  selected  by  the  democratic  party ;  Mr. 
Adams  by  the  federalists;  and  on  counting  the  votes,  the  highest 
number  appearing  in  favor  of  the  latter,  he  was  declared  president, 
and  the  former  vice-president.  During  the  succeeding  four  years,  the 
public  duties  of  Mr.  JEFFERSON  did  not,  from  the  nature  of  his  office, 
require  much  personal  exertion ;  and  the  greater  part  of  his  time  was 
passed  tranquilly  at  Monticello.  When  the  period  for  another  election 
arrived,  however,  he  was  again  called  forward  as  the  popular  candi 
date  in  opposition  to  Mr.  Adams,  and  with  more  success  than  on  the 
preceding  occasion.  Yet  an  accident  went  near  to  defeat  the 
acknowledged  wishes  and  intentions  of  the  people.  The  democratic 
party  had  elected  Mr.  JEFFERSON  as  president,  and  Mr.  Burr  as  vice- 
president,  by  an  equal  number  of  votes ;  but  as  the  constitution 
required  no  specification  of  the  respective  office  for  which  each  was 
chosen,  they  came  before  congress,  neither  having  the  majority  neces 
sary  by  law.  Under  these  circumstances,  the  election  devolved  upon 
the  house  of  representatives,  ar.d  the  opponents  of  Mr.  JEFFERSON. 
taking  advantage  of  the  occurre  ftce,  threw  their  votes  into  the  scale  of 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

Mr.  Burr.  This  led  to  a  protracted  and  most  exciting  contest.  At 
length,  after  thirty-five  ineffectual  ballots,  one  of  the  representatives  of 
the  state  of  Maryland  made  public  the  contents  of  a  letter  to  himself 
written  by  Mr.  Burr,  in  which  he  declined  all  pretensions  to  the 
presidency,  and  authorised  him,  in  his  name,  to  disclaim  any  compe 
tition  with  Mr.  JEFFERSON.  On  this  specific  declaration,  two  federa. 
members  who  represented  states  which  had  before  voted  blank,  with 
drew;  this  permitted  the  republican  members  from  those  states  to 
become  a  majority,  and  instead  of  putting  a  blank  into  the  box  to  vote 
positively  for  Mr.  JEFFERSON.  On  the  thirty-sixth  ballot,  therefore, 
he  was  elected  president,  and  Mr.  Burr  vice-president. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1801,  Mr.  JEFFERSON  entered  on  his  first 
presidential  term.  In  his  inaugural  address,  delivered  on  that  day  in 
the  presence  of  both  houses  of  congress,  he  stated,  with  great  eloquence 
o£  language  and  with  admirable  clearness  and  precision,  the  political 
principles  by  which  he  intended  to  be  governed  in  the  administration 
of  public  affairs.  Equal  and  exact  justice  to  all  men,  of  whatever 
state  or  persuasion,  religious  or  political ;  peace,  commerce,  and  honest 
friendship  with  all  nations,  entangling  alliances  with  none  ;  the  support 
of  the  state  governments  in  all  their  rights,  as  the  most  competent 
administration  for  our  domestic  concerns,  and  the  surest  bulwarks 
against  anti-republican  tendencies;  the  preservation  of  the  general 
government  in  its  whole  constitutional  vigor,  as  the  sheet-anchor  of 
our  peace  at  home,  and  safety  abroad  ;  a  jealous  care  of  the  right  of 
election  by  the  people,  a  mild  and  safe  corrective  of  abuses  which  are 
lopped  by  the  sword  of  revolution,  where  peaceable  remedies  are 
unprovided ;  absolute  acquiescence  in  the  decisions  of  the  majority, 
the  vital  principle  of  republics,  from  which  there  is  no  appeal  but  to 
force,  the  vital  principle  and  immediate  parent  of  despotism ;  a  well 
disciplined  militia,  our  best  reliance  in  peace,  and  for  the  first  moments 
of  war,  till  regulars  may  relieve  them ;  the  supremacy  of  the  civil 
over  the  military  authority ;  economy  in  the  public  expense,  that  labor 
may  be  lightly  burdened;  the  honest  payment  of  our  debts,  and 
sacred  preservation  of  the  public  faith ;  encouragement  of  agriculture, 
and  of  commerce  as  its  handmaid ;  the  diffusion  of  information  and 
arraignment  of  all  abuses  at  the  bar  of  public  opinion ;  freedom  of 
religion,  freedom  of  the  press,  and  freedom  of  the  person  under  the 
Drotection  of  the  habeas  corpus ;  and  trials  by  juries  impartially 
selected.  "  These  principles  form  the  bright  constellation  which  has 
gone  before  us,  and  guided  our  steps  through  an  age  of  rev:  lution  and 
reformation.  To  the  attainment  of  them,"  he  concludes,  "  have  been 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

devoted  the  wisdom  of  our  sages,  and  the  blood  of  our  heroes ;  they 
should  be  the  creed  of  our  political  faith,  the  text  of  civil  instruction, 
the  touchstone  by  which  to  try  the  services  of  those  we  trust :  and, 
should  we  wander  from  them  in  moments  of  error  or  of  alarm,  let  us 
hasten  to  retrace  our  steps,  and  to  regain  the  road  which  alone  leads 
to  peace,  liberty,  and  safety." 

The  administration  of  Mr.  JEFFERSON  embraces  a  long  and  inter 
esting  period  in  the  history  of  our  country,  distinguished  by  important 
measures,  whose  consequences  nave  been  felt  in  later  periods,  and 
which  have  led  to  results  affecting,  in  no  inconsiderable  degree,  the 
honor  and  prosperity  of  the  nation.  They  are  subjects  demanding 
the  research  and  deliberation  of  the  historian ;  we  can  here  briefly 
allude  only  to  their  more  prominent  and  general  features.  The 
system  of  foreign  policy  which  he  adopted,  tended  to  increase  our 
prosperity,  and  secure  our  rights.  The  aggressions  of  the  Tripolitans 
were  gallantly  and  promptly  chastised,  and  the  attempts  made  by  the' 
agents  of  the  Spanish  government,  to  deprive  us  of  the  right  of  navi 
gating  the  Mississippi,  were  immediately  noticed  and  repelled.  Mr. 
JEFFERSON,  while  secretary  of  state,  directed  his  attention  particularly 
to  secure  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  western  country  every  advantage 
for  their  trade  ;  but  it  had,  notwithstanding,  been  constantly  invaded. 
His  renewed  efforts  resulted,  after  considerable  negotiation,  in  the 
purchase  of  the  vast  territory  known  as  Louisiana.  This  fortunate 
acquisition  secured  an  independent  outlet  for  the  western  states,  and 
placed  under  the  republican  institutions  of  America  a  region  whose 
fertility,  climate,  and  extent  have  already  afforded  a  large  and  increas 
ing  revenue,  as  well  as  a  field  for  the  wide  diffusion  of  the  blessings 
of  freedom  and  equal  laws.  During  the  same  interval,  the  internal 
policy  of  the  United  States  underwent  several  important  changes. 
Measures  were  adopted  for  the  speedy  discharge  of  the  public  debt ; 
the  judiciary  system  was  restored  to  the  original  plan,  founded  by 
those  who  formed  the  constitution ;  a  salutary  reduction  was  intro 
duced  into  the  habitual  expenditures  of  the  government;  offices 
tending  to  increase  executive  influence  were  voluntarily  suppressed ; 
and  the  president  presented  the  noble  spectacle  of  a  chief  magistrate 
relinquishing  power  and  patronage,  where  he  could  do  so.  by  existing 
laws,  and  where  he  could  not,  seeking  the  aid  of  the  legislature  for 
the  same  honorable  purpose. 

So  much  was  the  administration  of  Mr.  JEFFERSON  approved,  that, 
when  his  term  of  service  expired,  he  was  again  elected,  and  by  a 
majority  which  had  increased  from  eight  vctes  to  one  hundred  and 

9  VOL.  2.— C 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

forty-eight.  In  his  inaugural  address,  delivered  on  the  4th  of  March 
1805,  he  asserted  his  determination  to  act  up  to  those  principles,  on 
which  he  believed  it  his  duty  to  administer  the  affairs  of  the  common 
wealth,  and  which  had  been  already  sanctioned  by  the  unequivoca 
approbation  of  his  country.  "I  do  not  fear,"  he  said,  "that  any 
motives  of  interest  may  lead  me  astray ;  I  am  sensible  of  no  passion 
which  could  seduce  me  knowingly  from  the  path  of  justice ;  but  the 
weakness  of  human  nature,  and  the  limits  of  my  own  understanding 
will  produce  errors  of  judgment  sometimes  injurious  to  your  interests. 
I  shall  need,  therefore,  all  the  indulgence  I  have  heretofore  experi 
enced  ;  the  want  of  it  will  certainly  not  lessen  with  increasing  years. 
I  shall  need,  too,  the  favor  of  that  Being  in  whose  hands  we  are,  who 
led  our  forefathers,  as  Israel  of  old,  from  their  native  land,  and  planted 
them  in  a  country  flowing  with  all  the  necessaries  and  comforts  of 
life ;  who  has  covered  our  infancy  with  his  providence,  and  our  riper 
years  with  his  wisdom  and  power."  He  had  scarcely  entered  on  his 
office  when  an  event  occurred,  threatening  seriously  the  domestic 
tranquillity  of  the  country,  and  even  the  constitution  and  the  union 
itself.  This  was  the  conspiracy  of  Colonel  Burr,  who,  ardent  and 
ambitious,  formerly  disappointed  in  reaching  the  first  office  of  the 
government,  when  it  seemed  within  his  grasp,  and  since  superseded 
in  the  second  by  the  election  of  Mr.  Clinton,  now  aimed,  by  desperate 
enterprise,  either  to  establish  a  new  republic  in  the  Spanish  provinces 
of  the  west,  or  to  divide  that  of  his  own  country.  His  scheme  was 
discovered,  and  he  was  himself  eventually  apprehended  and  tried  for 
treason.  The  evidence  was  not  sufficient  to  establish  his  presence  at 
the  illegal  assemblages  which  were  proved,  or  the  use  of  any  force 
against  the  authority  of  the  United  States,  in  consequence  of  which 
he  was  acquitted. 

The  foreign  relations  of  the  Dnited  States,  however,  at  this  period 
assumed  an  importance  exceeding  all  domestic  affairs.  Nearly  the 
whole  of  their  revenue  depended  on  commerce;  this,  in  the  wai 
between  France  and  Great  Britain,  had  sustained  from  both  powers 
the  most  severe  and  unprincipled  aggressions,  and  to  these  there  were 
added,  especially  in  the  proceedings  of  the  latter  nation,  circumstances 
so  aggravated  as  to  leave  the  American  nation  no  honorable  course, 
Irut  that  of  prompt  retaliation.  Under  ordinary  circumstances,  the 
natural  and  just  resort  would  have  been  to  war ;  but  the  government 
interests,  and  situation  of  America  required  the  trial  and  failure  01 
every  other  alternative  before  that  was  adopted.  An  embargo  pre 
sented  itself  as  a  measure,  if  not  decisive,  at  least  preparatory ;  and  01? 


]0 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON. 

(lie  22d  of  December,  1807,  an  act  of  congress  establishing  one  was 
passed,  on  the  recommendation  of  Mr.  JEFFERSON.  At  first  this 
measure  appeared  to  promise  a  successful  result.  In  January,  1809, 
after  it  had  existed  a  year,  overtures  were  made  by  the  British  govern 
ment,  which  indicated  a  disposition  on  their  part  to  recede  from  the 
ground  they  had  taken ;  and  these  were  preceded  by  the  repeal  of 
some  of  their  most  objectionable  measures.  In  this  situation  were  the 
foreign  relations  of  the  United  States,  when  Mr.  JEFFERSON'S  second 
term  of  office  expired,  and  when  he  retired  from  the  elevated  position 
in  which  his  countrymen  had  placed  him.  To  trace  this  subject 
further,  therefore,  belongs  to  general  history,  and  to  the  political 
biography  of  his  successor,  who  had  been  early  his  pupil,  and  after 
wards  his  friend  and  political  supporter. 

On  the  3d  of  March,  1809,  Mr.  JEFFERSON  closed  his  political 
career  ;  he  had  reached  the  age  of  sixty-five ;  he  had  been  engaged, 
almost  without  interruption,  for  forty  years,  in  the  most  arduous  public 
duties;  he  had  passed  through  the  various  stations  to  which  his 
country  had  called  him  with  unsullied  honor  and  distinguished  repu 
tation  ;  and  he  now,  therefore,  determined  to  leave  the  scene,  while 
yet  un  oppressed  by  the  infirmities  of  age,  and  to  pass  the  evening  of 
his  life  in  the  calmness  of  domestic  and  philosophical  retirement. 
From  this  time  until  his  death,  with  the  exception  of  excursions  which 
business  required,  he  resided  altogether  at  Monticello.  He  indeed 
appeared  occasionally  before  his  countrymen,  by  publications  of  his 
private  correspondence,  which*  proved  the  same  purity  of  intention, 
the  same  earnest  zeal  in  the  promotion  of  liberal  opinions,  and  the 
same  intelligence,  forethought,  and  firmness,  which  distinguished  the 
actions  of  his  earlier  life.  He  was  called  forward,  from  time  to  time, 
by  repeated  requests  to  connect  himself  with  rising  institutions,  con 
stantly  forming  to  promote  science,  taste,  and  literature ;  for  it  was  a 
subject  of  natural  and  honorable  pride,  to  unite  with  these  a  name 
always  distinguished  for  attention  to  whatever  improved  or  adorned 
human  life.  Above  all,  he  was  sought  out  in  his  retirement  by 
strangers  from  every  foreign  nation  who  had  heard  of  and  admired  him ; 
and  by  the  natives  of  every  corner  of  his  own  country,  who  looked 
upon  him  as  their  guide,  philosopher,  and  friend.  His  home  was  the 
abode  of  hospitality  and  the  seat  of  dignified  retirement ;  he  forgot 
the  busy  times  of  his  political  existence,  in  the  calm  and  congenial 
pleasures  of  science ;  his  mind,  clear  and  penetrating,  wandered  with 
fresh  activity  and  delight  through  all  the  regions  of  thought ;  his  heart 
dwelt  with  the  deepest  interest  on  every  thing  that  tended  to  me 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

improvement  and  happiness  of  mankind ;  at  once  practical,  benevolent 
and  wise,  he  was  forever  studying  the  welfare  of  his  fellow-creatures, 
and  endeavoring  to  advance  every  plan  which  tended  to  produce  or 
increase  it.  Among  these  labors,  the  most  prominent  perhaps  was  his 
effort  for  the  improvement  of  education  in  Virginiaj  and  the  establish 
ment  of  a  noble  university,  which  was  commenced  by  his  own  private 
donations  and  those  he  could  obtain  from  his  friends.  This  became 
the  object  of  his  greatest  zeal,  during  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He 
presented  to  the  legislature  a  report  embracing  the  principles  on  which 
it  was  proposed  the  institution  should  be  formed.  The  situation 
selected  for  the  university  was  at  Charlottesville,  a  town  at  the  foot  ol 
the  mountain,  where  he  resided.  The  plan  was  such  as  to  combine 
elegance  and  utility,  with  the  power  of  enlarging  it  to  any  extent, 
which  its  future  prosperity  might  require.  The  instruction  was  tc 
embrace  the  various  branches  of  learning  which  a  citizen  may  requir**, 
in  his  intercourse  between  man  and  man,  in  the  improvement  of 
morals  and  faculties,  and  in  the  knowledge  and  exercise  of  his  social 
rights.  The  various  arrangements  for  the  conduct  of  the  institution 
were  framed  with  a  view  to  a  liberal  system  of  discipline,  and  a  strict 
accountability  on  the  part  of  all  connected  with  the  institution.  The 
legislature  approved  of  Mr.  JEFFERSON'S  plans ;  he  was  himself 
elected  the  rector ;  and  from  that  period  he  devoted  himself  to  carry 
into  effect  what  he  had  thus  designed.  All  his  hopes  and  thoughts 
were  turned  towards  its  success.  He  rode  every  morning  when  the 
weather  would  permit,  to  inspect  its  progress ;  he  prepared  with  his 
own  hands  the  drawings  for  the  workmen ;  he  stood  over  them  as 
they  proceeded,  with  a  sort  of  parental  anxiety  and  care  ;  and  when 
the  inclemency  of  the  season  or  the  infirmity  of  age  prevented  his 
visits,  a,  telescope  was  placed  on  a  terrace  near  his  house,  by  means  of 
which  he  could  inspect  the  progress  of  the  work.  After  its  comple 
tion,  he  might  often  be  seen  pacing  slowly  along  the  porticoes  or 
cloisters  which  extended  in  front  of  the  dormitories  of  the  students, 
occasionally  conversing  with  them,  and  viewing  the  establishment 
with  a  natural  and  honorable  pride.  In  the  library,  a  catalogue 
written  by  himself  is  carefully  preserved.  He  has  collected  the 
names,  best  editions,  and  value  of  all  works  of  whatever  language,  in 
literature  and  science,  which  he  thought  necessary  to  form  a  complete 
library;  and,  in  examining  it,  one  is  leally  less  struck  with  the 
research  and  various  knowledge  required  for  its  compilation,  than  the 
additional  proof  of  that  anxious  care,  which  seemed  to  leave  unsought 
no  means  of  fostering  and  improving  tlje  institution  he  had  formed. 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

Thus  glided  on  the  evening  of  Mr.  JEFFERSON'S  patriotic  and 
benevolent  life ;  as  age  wore  gradually  away  the  energies  of  his  body, 
his  mind  shone  with  intelligence  undiminished ;  and  his  efforts  and 
desires  for  the  progress  of  human  happiness  and  knowledge,  knew  no 
change.  Years,  however,  had  crowded  upon  him;  and  when  the 
increase  of  infirmities  at  length  prevented  him  leaving  his  chamber, 
he  remarked  to  the  physician,  who  sought  to  assist  him  by  the  aid 
of  his  art,  that  "the  machine  had  worn  out,  and  could  go  on  no 
longer."  During  the  spring  of  1826,  he  had  suffered  from  increasing 
debility,  but  it  was  not  until  the  26th  of  June,  that  he  was  obliged  to 
confine  himself  to  his  bed.  The  strength  of  his  constitution  and 
freedom  from  bodily  pain  for  a  short  time  encouraged  the  hope,  that 
this  confinement  would  be  only  temporary  ;  but  his  own  conversation 
showed  that  he  did  not  himself  so  regard  it.  "  Do  not  imagine,"  he 
said  to  those  around  him,  "  that  I  feel  the  smallest  solicitude  as  to  the 
result.  I  do  not  indeed  wish  to  die,  but  I  do  not  fear  to  die."  His 
temper  retained  all  its  usual  cheerfulness  and  equanimity ;  his  only 
anxiety  seemed  to  be  for  the  prosperity  of  the  university,  and  he 
expressed  strongly  his  hopes  that  the  state  would  not  abandon  it ;  he 
declared  that  if  he  could  see  that  child  of  his  old  age  fairly  flourishing, 
he  was  ready  to  depart — to  say  "mine  dimittis  domine,"  a  favorite 
quotation  with  him.  On  the  2d  of  July,  he  appeared  free  from  disease, 
but  his  weakness  was  such,  that  his  physicians  expressed  a  doubt 
whether  his  strength  would  prove  sufficient  to  restore  him.  Conscious 
himself  that  he  could  not  recover,  and  without  any  bodily  or  appa 
rently  mental  pain,  he  calmly  gave  directions  relative  to  his  interment, 
which  he  requested  might  be  at  Monticello  without  parade  or  pomp ; 
he  then  called  his  family  around  him,  and  conversed  separately  with 
each  of  them ;  to  his  beloved  daughter,  Mrs.  Randolph,  he  presented 
a  small  morocco  case,  which  he  requested  her  not  to  open  till  after  his 
death ;  when  the  sad  limitation  had  expired,  it  was  found  to  contain 
an  affectionate  poetical  tribute  to  the  virtues  of  her  from  whom  he  was 
thus  torn  away ;  he  desired,  if  any  inscription  were  placed  on  his 
tomb,  he  should  be  described  only  as  "  the  author  of  the  declaration 
of  independence,  of  the  statutes  of  Virginia  for  religious  freedom,  and 
the  father  of  the  university."  On  Monday,  the  following  day,  he 
inquired  of  those  around  him  with  much  solicitude,  what  was  the  day 
of  the  month ;  they  told  him  it  was  the  3d  of  July ;  he  then  eagerly 
expressed  his  desire  that  he  might  be  permitted  to  live  to  another  day, 
to  breathe  the  air  of  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  declaration  of  inde 
pendence.  His  wish  was  granted:  the  morning  of  the  4th  of  July, 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

1826,  found  him  still  living;  and  after  declaring  himself  gratified  by 
the  affectionate  solicitude  of  his  family  and  servants,  and  having  dis 
tinctly  articulated  these  words,  "  I  resign  myself  to  my  God,  and  my 
child  to  my  country,"  he  gradually  expired  without  a  murmur  or  a 
groan. 

At  the  time  of  his  death,  Mr.  JEFFERSON  had  reached  the  age  of 
eighty-three  years,  two  months,  and  twenty-one  days.  In  person  he 
was  six  feet  two  inches  high,  erect  and  well  formed,  though  thin ;  his 
eyes  were  light  and  full  of  intelligence  ;  his  hair  was  very  abundant, 
and  originally  of  a  yellowish  red,  though  in  his  latter  years  silvered 
with  age ;  his  complexion  was  fair,  his  forehead  broad,  and  the  whole 
face  square  and  expressive  of  deep  thinking ;  his  countenance  was 
remarkably  intelligent  and  open  as  day,  its  general  expression  full  of 
good-will  and  kindness,  and,  when  the  occasion  excited  it,  beaming 
with  enthusiasm ;  his  address  was  cordial,  confirming  the  welcome  of 
his  lips;  his  motions  were  flexible  and  easy,  his  step  firm  and 
sprightly ;  and  such  were  his  strength  and  agility,  that  he  was  accus 
tomed,  in  the  society  of  children,  of  which  he  was  fond,  to  practise 
feats  that  few  could  imitate.  His  manner  was  simple,  mingled  with 
native  dignity,  but  cheerful,  unassuming,  frank,  and  kind ;  his  lan 
guage  was  remarkable  for  vivacity  and  correctness ;  and  in  his  con 
versation,  which  was  without  apparent  effort,  he  poured  forth  know 
ledge  the  most  various  from  an  exhaustless  fountain,  yet  so  modestly, 
and  so  engagingly,  that  he  seemed  rather  to  seek  than  to  impart 
information. 

In  his  disposition  he  was  full  of  liberality  and  benevolence ;  of  this 
the  neighborhood  of  Monticello  affords  innumerable  monuments,  and, 
on  his  own  estate,  such  was  the  condition  of  his  slaves,  that  in  their 
comforts  his  own  interests  were  too  often  entirely  forgotten.  Among  his 
neighbors  he  was  esteemed  and  beloved  in  an  uncommon  degree,  and 
his  sentiments  and  opinions  were  regarded  by  them  with  extreme 
respect,  the  reward  rather  of  his  private  worth  than  of  his  public  services. 
His  kindness  had  no  limits ;  he  omitted  nothing  in  his  power  to  alle 
viate  distress.  OR  one  occasion,  when  president,  passing  on  horse 
back  a  stream  in  Virginia,  he  was  accosted  by  a  feeble  beggar,  who 
implored  his  aid  to  help  him  across ;  without  hesitation  he  carried 
him  over  behind  him,  and,  on  the  beggar  telling  him  he  had  neglected 
his  wa\let,  he  as  good-humoredly  recrossed  the  stream,  and  brought  it 
to  him.  When  the  British  and  German  prisoners,  taken  at  Saratoga, 
were  quartered  in  his  neighborhood,  he  treated  them  with  marked 
kinndess;  he  enlisted  the  benev  lent  dispositions  of  the  neighborhood 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

to  supply  their  wants,  obtain  provisions,  and  secure  tneir  habitations 
against  the  inclemency  of  the  season ;  and  to  the  officers  he  threw 
open  his  library,  and  offered  all  the  hospitalities  of  Monticello.  On 
leaving  Virginia,  they  wrote  him  letters  conveying  the  warmest 
gratitude ;  and  when  he  subsequently  visited  Germany,  many  of  these 
grateful  men  flocked  around  him,  loading  him  with  respect  and 
affection. 

In  his  temper  he  displayed  the  greatest  equanimity:  his  oldest 
friends  have  remarked  that  they  never  beheld  him  give  way  to  passion  ; 
arid  he  treated  his  family  and  domestics  with  unvarying  gentleness. 
Even  during  the  exciting  political  contests  in  which  he  was  so  promi 
nent  an  actor,  he  never  displayed  personal  enmity,  or  used  his  influ 
ence  or  power  with  an  angry  or  vindictive  spirit.  When  the  celebrated 
traveller,  Humboldt,  was  once  visiting  him,  he  saw  a  newspaper  lying 
on  his  table,  containing  a  slanderous  and  acrimonious  attack ;  pointing 
it  out  to  Mr.  JEFFERSON,  he  said  "why  do  you  not  hang  the  man?" 
"  Put  the  paper  in  your  pocket,"  replied  the  president  with  a  smile, 
"and  on  your  return  to  your  own  country,  if  any  one  doubts  the 
freedom  of  our  press,  show  it  to  him,  and  tell  him  where  you  found 
it."  Even  at  the  period  when  his  elevation  to  the  chief  magistracy  was 
contested  with  so  much  violence,  he  says,  in  a  letter  to  Governor 
Henry,  of  Maryland,  a  political  opponent,  "I  feel  extraordinary  grati 
fication  in  addressing  this  letter  to  you,  with  whom  shades  of  difference 
in  political  sentiment  have  not  prevented  the  interchange  of  good 
opinion,  nor  cut  off  the  friendly  offices  of  society.  This  political 
tolerance  is  the  more  valued  by  me,  who  consider  social  harmony  as 
the  first  of  human  felicities,  and  the  happiest  moments  those  which 
are  given  to  the  effusions  of  the  heart."  His  attachment,  indeed,  to 
his  friends  was  warm  and  unvarying ;  he  imparted  to  them,  witn 
unstudied  and  fearless  confidence,  all  that  he  thought  and  felt ;  he 
entertained  no  ungenerous  caution  or  distrust,  and  he  had  his  reward 
in  that  firm  support,  which  he  received  and  had  a  right  to  expect  from 
them,  in  every  exigency. 

The  domestic  habits  of  Mr.  JEFFERSON  were  quite  simple.  His 
application  was  constant  and  excessive.  He  always  rose  very  early ; 
to  a  remark  once  made  to  him  of  surprise  at  his  being  able,  amidst  the 
numerous  interruptions  to  which  his  public  station  exposed  him,  to 
transact  his  business,  he  replied,  "  I  have  made  it  a  rule  never  to  let 
the  sun  rise  before  me,  and  before  I  have  breakfasted,  to  transact  all 
the  business  called  for  by  the  day."  His  habits  were  so  exact,  that  in 
a  cabinet  abounding  with  papers,  each  one  was  so  labeled  and 

15 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

arranged  as  to  be  immediately  found.  After  his  retirement  from 
public  life,  he  maintained  a  correspondence  wonderfully  extensive.  He 
usually  rode  every  day  for  an  hour  or  two,  and  continued  to  do  sc 
until  a  very  short  period  before  his  death  ;  and  though  he  retired  early, 
his  afternoons  were,  to  the  last,  devoted  to  study,  as  his  evenings 
were  to  his  family  circle. 

We  cannot  better  close  our  memoir  of  JEFFERSON  than  in  the  closing 
language  of  Mr.  Webster's  eloquent  eulogium  of  the  illustrious  states 
man  in  connection  with  John  Adams  : — "Fellow  citizens,  I  will  detain 
you  no  longer  by  this  joint  and  feeble  tribute  to  the  memory  of  the 
illustrious  dead.  Even  in  other  hands  adequate  justice  could  not  be 
performed,  within  the  limits  of  this  occasion.  Their  highest,  their 
best  praise  is  your  deep  conviction  of  their  merits,  your  affectionate 
gratitude  for  their  labors  and  services.  It  is  not  my  voice,  it  is  this 
cessation  of  ordinary  pursuits,  this  arresting  of  all  attention,  these 
solemn  ceremonies,  and  this  crowded  house,  which  speak  their  eulogy. 
Their  fame  indeed  is  safe.  That  is  now  treasured  up,  beyond  the 
reach  of  accident.  Although  no  sculptured  marble  should  rise  to  their 
memory,  nor  engraved  stone  bear  record  of  their  deeds,  yet  will  their 
remembrance  be  as  lasting  as  the  land  they  honored.  Marble  columns 
may  indeed  moulder  into  dust ;  time  may  erase  all  impressions  from  the 
crumbling  stone ;  but  their  fame  remains  ;  for  with  AMERICAN  LIBERTY 
it  rose,  and  with  AMERICAN  LIBERTY"  ONLY  can  it  perish.  It  was  the 
last  swelling  peal  of  yonder  choir,  'THEIR  BODIES  ARE  BURIED  IN  PEACEJ 

BUT    THEIR   NAME   LIVETH    EVERMORE.'       I  Catch    that    Solemn  S0n£  '.    I 

O    ' 

echo  that  lofty  strain  of  funeral  triumph,  e  THEIR  NAME  LIVETH  EVER 
MORE.'  " 

16 


JOHN  HANCOCK. 


THIS  illustrious  patriot,  than  whom  p  of  one  of  all  his  con- 

in  his  time,  .»ion 

:he  American  community,  tg    Of  the 

sant  town  of  Quincy,  a  plaa 
nishing,  not  only  two  of  the  illustriou 
no  small  numher  also  of  other  remark 
;  in  the  history  of  their  mr 
time  of  HANCOCK'S  birth,  in  the  year  1737,  a 
vnt  town  of  Lraintree,  (whiH- 

a  me  name,  t 
lolph,  in  addition  to  i 

of  the  sub'-- 
Th-  ,  w*re  both  cVrgyrm.-,,, 

a  century  at  .  ;  a  spot  which 

I, 

the   adj- 

American  Revolution,  and 
Revolution,'*   tolls  us,  yet  st. 

hits  many  scars  made  by  the  bullets  discharged  *t  ovt  i  v, 

from    the    guns    of  the  advancing   enemy,  on   the   morning   of  tin- 
skirmish. 

The  father  of  HANCOCK,  of  the  same  name  wiih  himself,  has 
received  no  little  eulogy  for  the  services  which  he  rendered  to  the 
cause  of  learning,  as  well  as  religion,  in  his  native  province.  One  of 
the  brothers  of  this  gentleman,  however,  is  still  better  known  by 
merits  of  a  similar  description,  as  well  as  by  the  recommendation  of 
Laving  elevated  himself  from  an  humble  and  obscure  condition  of  life, 
by  ry,  intelligence,  and  energy,-  to  the  rank  of  the  most 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

eminent  merchant  in  the  northern  stales.  He  was  for  several  years 
honored  with  high  situations  in  the  political  departments  of  the 
province ;  and  what  is  more  to  his  lasting  praise,  he  appropriated  a 
liberal  portion  of  his  well  earned  revenue  to  the  establishment  of  a 
professorship  in  Harvard  University,  and  to  the  increase  of  the 
library  of  that,  institution,  where  his  name,  in  golden  letters,  may  be 
seen  to  this  day  over  one  of  the  alcoves. 

At  this  seminary — now  become  so  celebrated  for  the  great  names  it 
has  introduced  to  the  history  of  the  country,  and  still  more  the  sub 
ject  of  public  regard,  in  the  period  of  HANCOCK'S  youth,  as  not  only 
the  oldest,  but  far  the  most  learned  and  most  amply  endowed  lite 
rary  institution  in  the  land — the  subject  of  our  memoir  received,  under 
the  charge  of  the  paternal  uncle  just  mentioned,  his  collegiate  edu 
cation.  His  father  had  deceased  during  his  infancy,  and  he  was 
thus,  perhaps  not  very  unfortunately,  cast  upon  the  kindness  of  a 
relative  who  seems  to  have  been  as  cheerfully  disposed,  arid  as  well 
qualified,  as  he  was  abundantly  able  by  his  means  at  command,  to 
bestow  on  his  young  protege,  all  the  expense  and  exertion  which 
were  deemed  subservient  to  his  comfort  and  promotion. 

He  was  graduated  at  Harvard,  in  the  year  1754,  at  the  early  age 
of  seventeen.  With  what  honors  he  came  off  at  his  commencement, 
or  what  reputation  as  a  scholar  he  acquired,  during  his  course  of 
study  in  the  institution,  we  are  not  now  enabled  to  ascertain  ;  but 
the  intelligence,  as  well  as  the  ambition  and  the  application,  which 
he  afterwards  manifested  on  frequent  occasions  of  as  much  interest 
to  his  countrymen  as  to  himself,  give  us  reason  to  believe  that  his 
character  must  have  received  at  this  early  period,  no  inconsiderable 
weight  from  the  development  of  the  same  virtues  and  powers  that 
finally  raised  him  to  the  highest  place  in  the  confidence  of  the 
American  people. 

That  the  indistinct  and  incomplete  account  which  has  reached  us 
of  this  portion  of  his  career,  supplies  no  glowing  description  of  any 
precocious  and  prodigious  display  of  genius  on  the  part  of  the 
youthful  aspirant,  is  a  mischance  which  other  great  men  have  partici 
pated  with  mmself ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  the  assertion  advanced 
by  occasional  writers,  that  his  college  career  was  passed  chiefly  in 
indolent  insignificance,  or  at  best  in  mediocre  regularity,  is  believed 
to  be  without  the  slightest  foundation  in  truth,  as  it  is  in  proof.  He 
who  searches,  at  this  day,  among  the  documents  of  HANCOCK'S  own 
time,  and  especially  of  the  period  of  his  political  advancement,  for 


JOHN   HANCOCK. 

the  opinions  which  his  contemporaries  entertained,  or  professed  to 
entertain,  in  regard  to  his  true  character,  must  cautiously  discrimi 
nate  between  the  statements  of  indifferent  testimony,  and  the  asper 
sions  of  rancorous  political  rivals  and  foes.  The  remark  applies  to 
the  case  before  us,  with  perhaps  scarcely  less  force  than  to  those 
of  even  Washington,  Jefferson,  and  Hamilton  themselves.  No 
statesman  in  this  country,  of  however  exalted  renown,  has  been  so 
fortunate  as  to  receive  the  reward  of  his  patriotism  at  the  hands  of 
the  public,  without  a  mixture  of  bitter  accusation  and  violent  attack, 
olended  therewith,  from  time  to  time,  quite  sufficient  to  satisfy  the 
most  inordinate  appetite  for  the  excitement  of  popular  contest.  In 
this  connexion  it  is  well  observed,  too,  by  Sanderson,  that,  the  im 
putation  of  dulness,  and  even  of  stupidity  has  been  attached,  during 
the  rudiments  of  their  education,  to  some  of  the  brightest  ornaments 
of  literature ;  and  many  have  excited  the  admiration  of  the  world 
by  a  youthful  pregnancy  of  genius,  whose  names  have  perished 
before  the  hour  of  parturition. 

For  six  years  subsequent  to  the  conclusion  of  his  academical 
course,  HANCOCK  was  engaged  most  of  his  time  as  a  clerk  in  the 
counting-house  of  his  uncle,  who  was  then  at  the  height  of  his  com 
mercial  prosperity.  In  1760  he  visited  the  mother  country,  and 
during  that  period  was  present  at  the  funeral  of  George  II.,  and  the 
coronation  of  his  successor — a  monarch  with  the  principles  and 
policy  of  whose  administration  he  then  little  anticipated  the  serious 
conflict  which  subsequently  occurred. 

After  his  return  to  his  own  country,  at  the  age  of  twenty-seven, 
the  decease  of  his  uncle  put  him,  by  the  will  of  that  generous  patron, 
in  possession  of  a  munificent  fortune,  reputed  to  have  been  the 
most  ample  property  held  by  any  individual  in  the  province,  and 
probably  little  inferior  to  any  other  American  estate. 

This  accidental  and  fortunate  advantage,  though  it  has  never  been 
pretended  that  the  proprietor  used  it  with  other  than  a  spirit  of  the 
most  noble  liberality,  proved,  under  circumstances  which  have  been 
already  alluded  to,  another  fruitful  occasion  of  ungenerous  remarks 
upon  his  conduct  and  motives.  It  certainly  enabled  him  to  live  in  a 
style  which  differed  materially  from  that  adopted  by  his  great  rival, 
Samuel  Adams.  The  latter  was  in  moderate  circumstances,  and 
was  obliged  to  conform  in  his  manners  and  habits  to  the  somewhat 
severe  republicanism  of  the  times.  But  HANCOCK  had  been  edu 
cated  in  the  home  of  elegant  hospitality,  and  his  revenue  was  abun- 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

dantly  adequate  to  the  gratification  of  the  most  liberal  taste.  He 
kept  a  splendid  equipage,  riding,  upon  public  occasions  at  least,  with 
servants  in  livery,  and  six  beautiful  bays,  while  his  apparel  was 
sumptuously  embroidered  with  gold  or  silver  lace,  and  all  the  other 
fashionable  decorations  of  the  day.  He  was  fond,  also,  in  later  life, 
of  dancing,  music,  concerts,  routs,  assemblies,  card  parties,  rich 
wines,  social  dinners,  and  festivities  of  every  description,  which  he 
supposed  unobjectionable,  and  which  were  popular  with  a  very 
considerable  class  of  the  population  of  Boston. 

We  come  now  to  the  consideration  of  the  political  career  of  Mr. 
HANCOCK,  and  it  cannot  fail  to  be  the  most  obvious  inference  from 
such  a  review,  that  whatever  might  be  the  bitterness  of  individual 
opponents  at  diiferent  periods,  and  although  his  popularity  with 
even  the  mass  of  his  fellow  citizens  was  occasionally,  in  times  ot 
high  excitement,  subject  to  eclipse,  yet,  on  the  whole,  few  men  who 
have  lived  in  this  country,  at  any  stage  in  its  history,  have  enjoyed 
a  more  substantial  share  of  political  promotion  or  popular  favor. 

He  was  elected  one  of  the  selectmen  of  Boston  soon  after  his 
return  from  England,  and  continued  to  hold  that  office  for  several 
years.  In  1766,  he  was  chosen,  with  James  Otis,  Samuel  Adams, 
and  Thomas  Gushing,  a  representative  to  the  general  assembly  of 
the  province.  There  was  at  this  time,  as  the  city  papers  of  the 
date  above  named  sufficiently  indicate,  a  good  deal  of  excitement 
stirred  up  in  the  public  mind  relating  to  the  measures  of  the  British 
government;  and  this  circumstance,  not  less  than  the  company  with 
whom  he  was  associated  in  his  office,  plainly  prove  the  high  degree 
of  confidence  already  reposed  in  both  his  integrity  and  his  talents. 
He  is  said  to  have  been  somewhat  indebted,  for  his  early  advance 
ment,  to  the  kindly  offices  of  Samuel  Adams,  a  gentleman  with 
whom  he  subsequently  found  occasion  to  difler  in  political  sentiment 
on  several  occasions,  but  it  is  believed  not  to  the  disparagement  of 
the  mutual  respect  of  the  parties. 

In  the  assembly,  Mr.  HANCOCK,  though  but  thirty  years  of  age, 
was  immediately  placed  in  the  foremost  rank  of  the  leading  and 
working  men,  being  not  only  nominated  to  most  of  the  important 
committees  of  that  respectable  body,  but  upon  more  than  one  occa 
sion  of  great  and  general  interest,  appointed  to  the  chairmanship 
over  associates  of  high  reputation. 

In  the  impositions  attempted  by  the  British  government,  in  regard 
^0  the  importation  of  foreign  merchandise  into  this  country,  Mr. 


JOHN  HANCOCK. 

HANCOCK  took  an  early  and  strong  interest ;  and  probably  no  indi 
vidual  was  more  active  than  himself  in  instituting  those-  memorable 
associations  of  the  citizens  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  the  intro 
duction  and  circulation  of  English  goods,  which  so  materially  con 
tributed  riot  only  to  ward  off'  some  of  the  encroachments  of  ty 
ranny,  but  to  awaken  the  attention  of  the  American  people  to  a 
iiscussion  and  decision  on  the  whole  subject  of  monarchical  and 
ministerial  abuse.  His  name  was  brought  more  particularly  before 
the  public,  in  the  course  of  this  controversy,  by  the  seizure  of  one  of 
his  vessels,  by  the  custom-house  officers,  under  the  pretext  of  its 
being  taken  in  contravention  of  the  revenue  laws.  It  was  removed 
by  the  officers  under  the  protection  of  the  guns  of  a  British  vessel 
then  in  the  harbor.  The  citizens,  however,  were  exasperated  by 
this  proceeding,  and  they  assembled  in  great  numbers,  pursued  them, 
beat  them  with  clubs,  and  drove  them  aboard  their  vessels.  The 
collector's  boat  was  then  burned  by  the  mob,  in  the  midst  of  loud 
rejoicings,  and  the  houses  of  some  of  the  most  odious  of  the  sup 
porters  of  "  divine  right,"  razed,  in  the  first  transport  of  popular 
fury,  to  the  ground.  This  affair,  trifling  as  it  may  seem,  has  been 
considered  as  among  the  principal  of  those  immediate  original 
causes  or  occasions,  which  hastened  the  great  dispute  between  the 
mother  country  and  the  provinces  to  a  crisis. 

Another  incident  of  still  greater  interest,  tending  to  the  same 
effect,  was  the  celebrated  massacre  of  the  Boston  citizens,  by  the 
British  troops,  on  the  5th  of  March,  1770.  Probably  the  excitement 
produced  by  that  bloody  affair  was  and  is  altogether  unprecedented 
in  the  history  of  the  city.  The  bells  were  tolled,  and  the  streets 
filled  with  the  population  of  all  the  neighboring  towns ;  and  it  was 
only  by  the  judicious  withdrawal  of  the  offenders  at  a  seasonable 
juncture,  and  the  energetic  interposition  of  some  of  the  popular 
leaders,  that  matters  failed  of  being  precipitated  to  the  utmost  verge 
of  frenzy.  Mr.  HANCOCK,  with  several  others,  was  the  next  day 
appointed,  by  an  assembly  of  the  citizens,  to  wait  on  the  royal  gover 
nor  and  procure  of  him  the  removal  of  the  troops  from  the  town. 
The  proposition  was  evaded  at  first,  but  subsequently  urged  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  effect  the  prompt  execution  of  the  object  desired  by  the 
people.  Mr.  HANCOCK  was  called  on,  in  1774,  to  deliver  an  oration 
on  the  anniversary  of  the  massacre,  over  the  remains  of  the  mur 
dered  victims  of  tyranny.  This  composition,  which  increased  even 
the  author's  established  reputation,  is  still  preserved,  and  is  justly 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

considered,  though  not  remarkable  for  any  thing  like  a  learned  01 
classic  taste,  a  fine  specimen  of  indignant  patriotism,  expressed  in 
the  fiery  phraseology  of  a  fearless  freeman.  It  was  about  this  time 
that  he  declined  accepting  the  appointment  of  counsellor  by  the 
governor,  and  this  indignity,  as  the  latter  considered  it,  was  followed 
by  his  removal  from  the  captaincy  of  the  cadets,  or  governor's  guard, 
by  General  Gage.  The  company  disbanded  themselves  on  that 
occasion,  and  the  whole  affair  added  to  his  popularity  with  every 
class  of  the  people.  Several  years  before  he  had  manifested  a  similar 
spirit,  on  being  offered  a  military  commission  by  Governor  Bernard. 
At  that  time  he  tore  up  the  paper  in  presence  of  his  fellow  citizens. 

In  October,  1774,  Mr.  HANCOCK,  now  but  thirty-seven  years  of 
age,  was  elected  president  of  the  Massachusetts  provincial  conven 
tion,  by  an  unanimous  vote.  The  next  year,  the  first  of  the  revolu 
tion,  found  him  at  the  acme  of  his  political  distinction,  in  the  honor 
able  station  of  president  of  the  continental  congress.  Sanderson 
correctly  remarks,  in  reference  to  this  appointment,  that  "by  his  long 
experience  in  business  as  moderator  of  the  town  meetings,  and  pre 
siding  officer  and  speaker  of  the  provincial  assemblies,  during  times 
of  great  turbulence  and  commotion,  he  was  eminently  qualified, 
as  well  as  by  his  natural  dignity  of  manners,  to  preside  in  this 
great  council  of  the  nation."  The  officer  elect  is  reported  to  have 
received  the  announcement  of  his  election  with  evident  symptoms 
of  embarrassment — a  sensation  creditable  at  least  to  his  modesty — 
but  being  conducted  to  the  chair  by  the  friendly  arm  of  a  southern 
member,  he  soon  recovered  his  usual  composure. 

He  held  the  presidency  until  October  of  the  year  1777,  a  period 
of  about  two  and  a  half  years,  during  which  the  incessant  applica 
tion  he  gave  to  business  had  rendered  his  health  somewhat  preca 
rious.  This  consideration  induced  him  to  resign  his  office,  and  he 
retired  to  his  native  province,  attended  by  most  gratifying  testimo 
nials  of  the  universal  respect  of  his  countrymen. 

But  his  fellow  citizens  did  not  suffer  him  to  remain  long  in  the 
quietude  of  private  life.  A  convention  was  about  this  time  appointed 
to  frame  a  constitution  for  the  state  of  Massachusetts ;  to  this  he  was 
elected ;  and  he  took,  as  usual,  an  active  part  in  the  deliberations  of 
.hat  important  occasion.  In  1780  he  was  chosen  governor,  being 
the  first  under  the  new  constitution.  He  continued  to  hold  the 
office,  annually,  by  the  suffrages  of  the  people,  till  1785,  when  he 
resigned;  owing,  as  was  stated,  to  the  condition  of  his  health, 


JOHN  HANCOCK. 

though  his  enemies  failed  not  to  assert  that  his  purpose  was  rathei 
to  escape  the  troubles  of  that  stormy  period,  which  finally  resulted 
in  the  famous  insurrection  of  Shays.  However  this  might  be,  the 
people  appear  to  have  been  satisfied  with  his  reasons  and  his  admi 
nistration,  for  in  1787  he  was  again  called  from  his  retirement  to  the 
gubernatorial  dignity,  and  he  continued  to  fill  that  station  succes 
sively  and  very  acceptably  till  his  death,  which  occurred  in  October, 
1793,  in  his  fifty-sixth  year.  Mr.  Sanderson  gives  him  the  credit  of 
directing  the  suppression  of  Shays'  rebellion,  during  the  latter  term 
of  his  office ;  but  this  praise  belongs  justly  to  Mr.  Bowdoin,  who 
was  governor  during  the  two  years  of  HANCOCK'S  retirement,  and 
when  the  troubles  in  question  were  at  their  height. 

The  great  reputation  acquired  by  the  subject  of  our  memoir 
among  his  own  countrymen  at  the  period  when  the  revolution  broke 
out,  cannot  be  better  proved  than  by  the  importance  attached  to  his 
patriotism  by  the  enemy,  who  perhaps  had  a  particular  ill  will 
against  him  from  the  connexion  of  his  signature,  (alone,  in  the  first 
instance,)  as  president  of  the  continental  congress,  to  the  memorable 
declaration  of  independence,  issued  by  that  body  on  the  4th  of  July, 
1776.  A  year  previous  to  this,  however,  he  had  the  honor  of  being 
pointed  out,  in  conjunction  with  that  other  "notorious  offender," 
Samuel  Adams,  as  an  exception  to  the  pardon  offered  by  the  royal 
governor  of  Massachusetts,  in  the  proclamation,  declaring  the  pro 
vince  in  a  state  of  rebellion,  which  he  issued  after  the  battle  of 
Bunker  Hill.  It  was  even  intimated,  that  the  chief  purpose  of  the 
expedition,  sent  on  the  19th  of  April  to  Lexington,  was  to  obtain 
possession  of  the  persons  of  these  two  obnoxious  compatriots— 
p<tr  nobile  fratrum. 

To  the  adoption  of  the  federal  constitution  by  the  state  of 
Massachusetts — a  most  important  event,  which  occurred  in  1788, 
no  individual  probably  contributed  so  much  as  HANCOCK  ;  and  it 
was  generally  believed,  at  the  time  when  he  submitted  that  instru 
ment  to  the  consideration  of  the  legislature,  that  if  this  state 
refused  to  ratify  it,  the  passage  of  it  would  infallibly  be  lost  in 
the  other  twelve.  A  convention  assembled  in  Boston,  to  consider 
the  question  of  acceptance,  and  of  that  large  and  highly  respect 
able  body,  comprising  all  the  distinguished  talent  of  the  state  — 
not  excepting  Fisher  Ames,  Rufus  King,  Judges  Gushing,  Parsons, 
Dana,  and  Sedgwick,  General  Lincoln,  Gore,  Brooks,  Strong,  and 
many  others,  HANCOCK  was  chosen  president  Sickness  compelled 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS 

him  to  leave  his  seat  during  part  of  the  debates,  but  he  returned  to 
it  in  the  last  week  of  the  session,  and  it  is  said  that  his  g~eat  influ 
ence,  exerted  with  his  utmost  discretion  and  energy  at  this  juncture, 
especially  in  pressing  sundry  amendments,  which  obviated  the 
exceptionable  features  of  the  proposed  code,  finally  turned  the  scale 
n  favor  of  the  adoption,  It  succeeded,  after  all,  by  a  majority  of 
only  nineteen  votes,  out  of  three  hundred  and  fifty-five.  This  event 
was  celebrated  in  Boston  with  great  rejoicings,  and  was  hailed  with 
satisfaction  throughout  the  country. 

The  funeral  obsequies  of  Governor  HANCOCK  were  observed  in  a 
manner  which  plainly  indicated  the  strong  hold  he  continued,  till  the 
last,  to  have  on  the  popular  good  will.  His  body  lay  in  state  at  his 
mansion  for  several  days,  and  the  interment  of  it  was  conducted 
with  great  ceremony.  The  militia  of  both  the  town  and  the  sur 
rounding  country  were  called  out,  and  the  judges  of  the  supreme 
court  joined  the  immense  procession,  which  followed  the  remains 
to  their  last  resting  place,  in  robes  of  mourning  hue.  The  disease 
from  which  the  governor  had  suffered  most  in  his  latter  years,  was 
the  gout,  but  his  decease  was  probably  occasioned  not  more  by  this 
cause,  than  by  the  fatigue  of  the  laborious  and  responsible  public 
duties  to  which  his  whole  time  and  thought  seemed  to  be  directed. 

Governor  HANCOCK  left  no  lineal  descendant.  He  had  married, 
about  twenty  years  before  his  death,  Miss  Q,uincy,  of  Boston,  (who 
belonged  to  one  of  the  most  distinguished  families  of  New  England.) 
and  by  this  connexion,  had  one  son,  but  this  child  died  at  an  early 
age 

The  public  character  of  the  great  man  whose  life  we  have  thus 
imperfectly  set  forth,  appears  from  the  facts  therein  comprised  much 
more  clearly  than  any  dissertation  of  ours  could  exhibit  it.  His 
private  reputation,  on  the  other  hand,  was  not  only  free  from  serious 
reproach,  even  in  the  most  excited  times,  but  at  all  periods  of  his 
career,  maintained  in  a  rank  worthy  even  of  his  political  popularity. 
The  diffusive  liberality,  with  which  he  dispensed  around  him  the 
benefits  of  his  splendid  wealth,  was  especially  the  subject  of  admira 
tion.  Nor  did  he  ever  hesitate,  when  patriotism  called  upon  him,  to 
sacrifice  any  thing  he  possessed  for  his  country's  good; — when,  for 
example,  in  1775,  it  was  proposed  by  the  American  officers,  who 
carried  on  the  siege  of  Boston,  to  bombard  and  destroy  the  town 
that  the  enemy  might  be  driven  out,  HANCOCK,  whose  whole  pro 
perty  was  thus  exposed  to  destruction,  was  among  the  foremost  to 


JOHN  HANCOCK. 

require  that  no  regard  to  his  personal  interest  should  obstruct  the 
operations  of  the  army. 

The  author  of  "  Familiar  Letters  on  Public  Characters,"  generally 
understood  to  be  a  gentleman  who  was  personally  acquainted  with 
most  of  the  great  men  of  the  period  of  HANCOCK'S  official  life, 
describes  the  appearance  of  the  governor  in  1782,  when,  it  is  said, 
though  but  forty-five  years  old,  he  wore  very  much  the  aspect  of 
advanced  age.  He  is  said  to  have  been  nearly  six  feet  in  stature,  of 
thin  person,  stooping  a  little,  and  apparently  enfeebled  by  disease. 
"His  manners  were  very  gracious,  of  the  old  style,  of  dignified  com 
plaisance.  His  face  had  been  very  handsome.  His  dress  was  adapted 
quite  as  much  to  be  ornamental  as  useful.*  Gentlemen  wore  wigs 
when  abroad,  and  commonly  caps  when  at  home.  At  this  time, 
(June,)  about  noon,  HANCOCK  was  dressed  in  a  red  velvet  cap,  within 
which  was  one  of  fine  linen,  the  latter  was  turned  up  over  the  lower 
edge  of  the  velvet  one,  two  or  three  inches.  He  wore  a  blue  damask 
gown,  lined  with  silk ;  a  white  stock,  a  white  satin  embroidered 
waistcoat,  black  'satin  small  clothes,  white  silk  stockings,  and  red 
morocco  slippers.  It  was  a  general  practice  in  genteel  families  to 
have  a  tankard  of  punch  made  in  the  morning,  and  placed  in  a  cooler 
when  the  season  required  it.  Yisiters  were  invited  to  partake  of  it. 
At  this  visit  HANCOCK  took  from  the  cooler,  standing  on  the  hearth, 
a  full  tankard,  and  drank  first  himself,  and  then  offered  it  to  those 
present.  At  his  table  might  be  seen  all  classes,  from  grave  and  dig 
nified  clergy,  down  to  the  gifted  in  song,  narration,  anecdote,  and 
wit,  with  whom  'noiseless  falls  the  foot  of  time,  that  only  treads  on 
flowers.' " 

To  acknowledge  that  the  governor  had  his  faults  and  his  foibles, 
is  but  to  allow  that  he  was  human.  Among  the  latter,  perhaps, 
was  too  scrupulous  a  stickling  for  etiquette  on  some  occasions,  and 
on  others,  a  somewhat  haughty  preference  of  his  own  mere  will  and 
wisdom  to  those  of  parties  who  were,  by  their  situation  at  least, 
entitled  to  respect,  if  not  to  concession.  The  author  of  the  "  Letters" 


*  The  writer  recollects  to  have  heard  it  stated  by  an  orator  in  Fanueil  Hall,  on  an 
occasion  when  the  sentiments  and  character  of  HANCOCK  came  under  discussion,  that 
he  was  at  one  time  in  the  habit  of  wearing  gold  buttons  with  the  figure  of  a  sheep  en 
graved  on  them,  under  the  motto,  "  you  gain  more  by  our  lives  than  our  deaths."  li 
was  no  doubt  a  political  allusion. 

§  VOL.  2.— D 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

mentions  that  when  President  Washington  visited  the  Eastern  states, 
in  1789,  HANCOCK  took  the  ground,  that  as  the  representative  of 
state  sovereignty  in  his  own  dominion,  he  was  to  be  visited  first, 
even  by  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  Union.  This  the  president  was 
given  to  understand,  but  he  did  not  deem  it  proper.  Written  com 
munications  ensued.  Washington  finally  refused  to  see  HANCOCK 
except  at  the  residence  of  the  former,  (corner  of  Court  and  Tremont 
streets.)  The  Governor  at  length  yielded,  and  on  the  third  or  fourth 
day,  went  in  his  coach,  enveloped  in  red  baize,  to  the  president's 
lodgings,  where  he  was  borne  in  the  arms  of  servants  into  the  house. 
The  delay  was  by  the  public  imputed  to  his  debility. 

Never,  we  will  say  in  conclusion,  never  did  any  man  manifest  more 
patriotic  courage  than  JOHN  HANCOCK  ;  nor  are  there  preserved  of  any 
one  a  more  precious  memory,  or  more  pleasant  reminiscences.  WThen 
General  Gage  issued  a  proclamation,  pronouncing  those  in  arms  and 
their  abettors,  "rebels"  and  "parricides  of  the  Constitution,"  he 
offered  a  free  pardon  to  all  who  would  forthwith  return  to  their  allegi 
ance,  except  JOHN  HANCOCK  and  Samuel  Adams,  who"  were  outlawed, 
and  for  whose  apprehension  as  traitors  a  reward  was  offered.  This 
proclamation,  so  arrogant  and  insulting,  exasperated  the  people,  and 
only  extorted  a  smile  from  HANCOCK,  now  chairman  of  the  People's 
Committee  of  Safety.  He  had  his  revenge ;  for  when  he  placed  his 
bold  signature  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence  in  the  following 
year,  he  remarked,  "  There !  John  Bull  can  read  that  name  without 
spectacles.  Now  let  him  double  his  reward  !" 

Hancock  House,  on  Beacon  Hill,  Boston,  is  now  occupied  by  John 
Hancock,  Esq.,  nephew  of  the  patriot,  and  who  breathes  no  small  por 
tion  of  his  spirit.  He  possesses  many  mementoes  of  his  eminent  kinsman, 
and  among  them  a  beautifully  executed  miniature  of  him  painted  in 
London,  in  1761,  while  he  was  there  at  the  Coronation  of  George  III.; 
he  also  owns  an  original  portrait  of  HANCOCK,  which  Lossing  has 
copied  in  his  "Field  Book  of  the  Revolution."  HANCOCK'S  name  too 
is  given  to  one  of  the  cannons  placed  in  the  top  of  the  monument  on 
Breed's  Hill,  by  order  of  the  Congress  in  1788. 

10 


CHARLES     CARROLL    OF   CARROILTON. 


J 


CHARLES     CARROLL 

OF    CARROLLTON. 


IT  has  been  asserted  that  the  Amerk  ited 
States,  began  seriously  to  entertain  tit- 

allegiance  to  the  British  king,  soon  a*<  by 

the  arms  of  the  British  and  provincial  for  .-ever, 

no  evidence  to  sustain  that  assertion  ;  and  tl  •  the 

colonies,  although   they  each   had  cause  for  <  -over 

been  united  in  their  complaints  until  ;ted 
them  by  a  series  of  general  grievances.                                       *       the 

; us  colonies  had  bee  -<fan 

to  tin  •  tb* 

mot;  Yt-iitif- 

reta;  vrly  sen? 

nosewl.  E  lh« 

dangers  ; 

religious  ;h- 

fathers  had  ^ 
from  the  king,  thv 

In 

in  the  colonies  wit  Uxiton 

right  in  the  provincial  ass- 
general  sentiment  appears  to  . ;  i  r<  tav 
Mutation  "were  inseparable,"     in 
passed ;  and  the  policy  of  > 

rsal    expression   of 

through   the    colonies.      la  *o   r!  •••• 

complaint,  each  colony  rememheivd  its  own  ii 
It  is  only  our  purpose,  on  this  occasion,  to   trac* 
discontent  in  Maryland  ;  and  to  show,  that  * 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

Lieir  "  lives,  their  fortunes,  and  their  sacred  honor,"  in  their  country's 
cause,  they  had  reason  and  justice  on  their  side. 

The  charter  of  Maryland  was  obtained  by  Lord  Baltimore,  from 
Charles  I.,  in  June,  1632.  By  the  charter  it  was  declared,  that  the 
grantee  was  actuated  by  a  laudable  zeal  for  extending  the  Christian 
religion  and  the  territories  of  the  empire.  Lord  Baltimore  was  a 
Roman  Catholic ;  and  his  avowed  intention  was,  to  erect  ail  asylum 
in  America  for  the  Catholic  faith.  In  honor  of  the  queen  the 
province  was  named,  and  its  endowment  was  accompanied  with 
immunities  more  ample  than  any  other  of  the  colonies.  Lord 
Baltimore  was  created  the  absolute  proprietary,  saving  the  allegiance 
due  to  the  crown  —  license  was  given  to  all  British  subjects  to 
transport  themselves  thither,  and  they  and  their  posterity  were 
declared  entitled  to  the  liberties  of  Englishmen,  as  if  they  had  been 
born  within  the  kingdom  ;  with  powers  to  make  laws  for  the  pro  mice, 
"  not  repugnant  to  the  jurisprudence  of  England," — power  was  given 
to  the  proprietary,  with  assent  of  the  people,  to  impose  all  just  and 
proper  subsidies,  which  were  granted  to  him  for  ev'er;  and  it  was 
covenanted  on  the  part  of  the  king,  that  neither  he  nor  his  successors 
should  at  any  time  impose,  or  cause  to  be  imposed,  any  toll  ages  on 
the  colonists,  or  their  goods  and  tenements,  or  on  their  commodities, 
to  be  laden  within  the  province.  The  proprietary  was  also 
authorized  to  appoint  officers,  repel  invasions,  and  suppress  rebellions. 
The  charter  contained  no  special  reservation  of  royal  prerogative  to 
interfere  in  the  government  of  the  province.  Thus  was  laid  the 
foundation  of  a  popular  government  not  likely  to  be  willingly 
renounced  when  once  possessed. 

No  efforts  were  spared  by  Lord  Baltimore  to  facilitate  the 
population  and  happiness  of  the  colony ;  and  in  five  years  it  had 
increased  to  such  an  extent  that  a  code  of  laws  became  necessary. 
Lord  Baltimore  composed  and  submitted  a  body  of  laws  to  the 
colonists  for  their  assent,  but  they  not  approving  of  them,  prepared  a 
code  for  themselves.  At  a  very  early  period  the  proprietary  had 
declared  in  favor  of  religious  toleration ;  in  1649  the  assembly 
adopted  that  principle  by  declaring,  "  that  no  persons  professing  to 
believe  in  JESUS  CHRIST  should  be  molested  in  respect  to  their 
religion,  or  in  the  free  exercise  thereof;"  thus  placing  themselves 
among  the  first  of  the  American  States  in  which  differences  as  to 
religious  opinions  were  tolerated  by  law.  In  1654  Cromwell  sent 
commissioners  to  reduce  the  colony  to  his  subjection,  who,  although 
they  met  with  no  opposition  in  Maryland,  abolished  its  institutions 


CHARLES  CARROLL  OF  CARROLLTOiN. 

arid  introduced  religious  discord.  They  inflamed  the  Protestants 
against  the  Catholics,  until,  exasperated  to  extremity,  the  parties  met 
in  an  engagement,  when  the  partizans  of  the  proprietary  government 
were  defeated,  the  governor  deposed,  and  a  new  assembly  formed,  by 
which  a  law  was  passed  depriving  the  Catholics  of  the  protection  of 
law  in  the  community.  With  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.,  in  1661, 
tranquillity  was  restored  to  the  province;  but  in  a  few  years  that 
tranquillity  was  again  disturbed  by  a  series  of  petty  vexations, 
originating  in  the  strife  and  jealousy  of  the  ruling  party  in  Britain, 
on  account  of  religion.  The  king's  ministers  commanded  that  all 
the  offices  of  the  provincial  government  should  in  future  be  committed 
exclusively  to  Protestants,  and  not  only  in  this  was  the  charter 
violated,  but  also  by  the  appointment  of  revenue  officers  and  the 
exacting  of  imposts.  In  1686  James  II.  determined  to  overthrow 
the  proprietary  governments  of  the  colonies,  but  the  more  important 
affairs  in  which  he  was  engaged  at  home,  during  his  short  reign, 
prevented  the  consummation  of  his  threat.*  On  the  accession  of 
William  III.  a  Protestant  association  was  formed,  which,  under  the 
authority  and  approbation  of  the  king,  usurped  the  direction  of  the 
affairs  of  the  province,  keeping  up  the  farce  of  a  Papist  plot  as  an 
excuse  for  their  conduct.  Lord  Baltimore  was  deprived,  by  an  act  of 
the  privy  council,  of  the  political  administration,  although  they 
could  find  no  fault  in  him,  except  that  he  was  of  the  Catholic  faith. 
With  the  proprietary^  government  the  liberal  principles  of  his 
administration  were  subverted.  The  Church  of  England  was 
established,  and  a  tax  levied  to  support  it. 

Sanctioned  by  the  authority  and  instructed  by  the  example  of  the 
British  government,  the  newly  modelled  legislature  of  Maryland 
proceeded  to  enact  a  series  of  laws  which  completely  disfranchised 
the  Catholics,  by  depriving  them  of  all  political  and  religious 
privileges,  and  of  the  ordinary  means  of  education.  By  an  act, 
passed  in  1704  and  renewed  in  1715,  it  was  ordained  that  the 
celebration  of  Mass,  or  the  education  of  youth  by  a  Papist,  should  be 
punished  by  transportation  to  England.  These  acts  were  afterwards 
modified  ;  but  the  evils  inflicted  on  the  colony  by  the  violations  of 
the  charter,  were  not  removed  until  the  connection  with  Great  Britain 
was  dissolved  by  the  Revolution.  In  1702  in  the  midst  of  this  state 
of  affairs,  Charles  Carroll,  the  father  of  CHARLES  CARROLL  OF 


*  About  this  time  Charles  Carroll    (the  son  of  Daniel  Carroll,  of  Kings  county,  Ireland, 
grandfather  of  CHARLES  CARROLL  OF  CARROLLTON,)  came  into  the  colony. 

3 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

CARROLLTON,  was  born.  We  may  readily  suppose  with  what  attach 
ment  to  the  royal  cause  he  arrived  at  manhood.  We  are  informed 
that  "ne  took  an  active  part  in  the  affairs  of  the  provincial  government; 
and  in  the  religious  disputes  of  the  times  stood  prominent  as  one  of 
the  leading  and  most  influential  members  of  the  Catholic  party."  On 
the  eighth  of  September,  1737,  O.  S.,  his  son,  CHARLES  CARROLL, 
surnamed  OF  CARROLLTON,  was  born  at  Annapolis;  and  at  eight  years 
old  was  taken  to  France  to  be  educated.  He  remained  there  until 
1757,  when  he  visited  London  and  commenced  the  study  of  law.  In 
1764,  he  returned  to  Maryland  a  finished  scholar  and  an  accomplished 
gentleman.  About  this  period  the  respective  rights  of  the  colonies 
and  of  the  king's  government  began  to  be  discussed ;  religious 
disputes  subsided  and  were  forgotten,  in  the  new  and  interesting 
topics  of  the  time.  The  celebrated  Stamp  Act,  in  1765,  produced  an 
universal  excitement,  and  elicited,  from  men  of  the  highest  character 
and  talents  in  the  country,  the  most  energetic  and  decisive  expressions 
of  opinion.  Among  those  who  came  boldly  forward  in  vindication 
of  the  colonists  was  CHARLES  CARROLL  OF  CARROLLTON. 

The  Stamp  Act  was  repealed  and  the  excitement  ceased ;  but  in 
the  colonies  the  principle  of  parliamentary  taxation  was  a  settled 
question. 

In  June,  1768,  Mr.  CARROLL  married. 

In  1771-2,  Mr.  CARROLL'S  talents  as  an  advocate  of  popular  rights, 
were  again  brought  into  requisition.  The  house  of  delegates,  after 
an  investigation,  framed  and  passed  a  law  regulating  the  fees  of  the 
civil  officers  of  the  colonial  government,  but  the  upper  house  refused 
to  concur  in  it.  After  the  adjournment  of  the  assembly,  the  governor 
issued  a  proclamation  commanding  and  enjoining  all  officers  not  to 
take  other  or  greater  fees  than  those  therein  mentioned.  The  people 
viewed  this  measure  as  an  attempt  to  fix  a  tax  upon  them  by 
proclamation,  and  in  that  light  considered  it  as  an  unjust  and 
arbitrary  exercise  of  official  authority.  A  newspaper  contest  ensued 
between  numerous  advocates  of  the  people  and  of  the  governor.  At 
length  the  parties  stood  in  silence  watching  the  progress  of  a  single 
combat  between  the  champion  of  the  people,  Mr.  CARROLL,  and  his 
antagonist,  the  provincial  secretary.  In  this  controversy,  Mr. 
CARROLL'S  talents  and  principles  were  brought  fully  before  the 
public,  and  received  the  applause  of  the  prominent  men  of  the 
day.  His  antagonist  was  silenced,  and  the  governor's  proclamation 
suspended  on, a  gallows  and  burnt  by  the  common  hangman.  The 
?tbove  controversy  was  conducted  by  the  parties  under  fic*'tious 


CHARLES  CARROLL  OF  CARROLLTON. 

signatures,  and  before  it  was  known  who  had  been  the  writer  to 
whom  the  laurel  was  awarded,  the  citizens  of  Annapolis  instructed 
their  representatives  to  address  a  letter  of  thanks,  through  the 
newspaper,  to  the  "distinguished  advocate  of  t'ie  rights  of  his 
country;"  but  when  it  was  generally  known  that  "the  distinguished 
advocate,"  was  CHARLES  CARROLL,  "the  people  of  Annapolis,  not 
satisfied  with  the  letter  of  the  delegates,  came  in  a  body  to  thank  him 
for  his  exertions  in  defence  of  their  rights."  Mr.  CARROLL  had 
evidently  made  up  his  mind  to  abide  the  issue  of  the  contest,  which  he 
foresaw  had  only  been  commenced  with  the  pen  to  be  terminated  with 
the  bayonet ;  and  he  took  repeated  occasions  so  to  express  his  con 
victions  to  friends  and  foes.  As  the  great  drama  of  the  Revolution 
advanced,  Mr.  CARROLL'S  popularity  evidently  became  more  exten 
sive,  and  his  advice  and  influence  more  frequently  sought.  After  the 
delegates  in  1774  had  prohibited  the  importation  of  tea,  a  brig  arrived 
at  Annapolis  with  a  quantity  on  board ;  it  was  court  time,  and  a  great 
number  of  people  were  assembled  from  the  neighboring  counties,  and 
so  irritated  were  they,  that  personal  violence  was  threatened  to  the 
captain  and  consignees  of  the  vessel  and  destruction  to  the  cargo. 
Application  was  made  to  Mr.  CARROLL  for  advice  and  protection,  by 
the  owner  of  the  vessel.  He  advised  him  to  burn  the  vessel  and 
the  tea  it  contained  to  the  water's  edge,  as  the  most  effectual  means  of 
allaying  the  popular  excitement.  His  counsel  was  followed,  the 
sails  were  set,  the  colors  displayed,  and  the  brig  burnt  amidst  the 
acclamations  of  the  multitude. 

In  February,  1776,  Mr.  CARROLL,  then  a  member  of  the  Maryland 
convention,  was  appointed  by  the  continental  congress  on  a  com 
mission  to  visit  Canada,  in  conjunction  with  Dr.  Franklin,  Samuel 
Chase,  and  the  Rev.  John  Carroll,  the  object  of  which  was  to  induce 
the  Canadians  to  unite  their  efforts  with  the  United  Provinces  in  the 
struggle  for  liberty;  but  the  defeat  of  Montgomery's  army,  the 
contributions  levied  on  the  inhabitants,  and  the  invincible  opposition 
of  the  priests,  rendered  their  mission  abortive.  Mr.  CARROLL 
returned  to  Philadelphia  just  as  the  subject  of  independence  was 
under  discussion ;  he  was  decidedly  in  favor  of  it,  but  was  not  a 
member  of  congress ;  and  the  delegates  from  Maryland  had  been 
instructed  to  refuse  their  assent  to  it.  He  proceeded  to  Annapolis 
with  all  speed,  and  in  his  place  in  the  convention  advocated  the  cause 
of  independence  with  such  effect,  that  on  the  28th  of  June  new 
instructions  were  given  in  the  place  of  the  old  ones,  and  on  the  4th 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

of  July,  1776,  the  votes  of  the  Maryland  delegation  were  given  for 
independence. 

On  the  same  day,  Mr.  CARROLL  was  appointed  a  delegate  to 
congress,  and  took  his  seat  as  a  member,  for  the  first  time,  on  the  18th. 
On  the  next  day  a  secret  resolution  was  adopted,  directing  the  Decla 
ration  to  be  engrossed  on  parchment,  and  signed  by  all  the  members, 
which  was  accordingly  done  on  the  2d  of  August.  As  Mr.  CARROLL 
had  not  given  a  vote  on  the  adoption  of  that  instrument,  he  was  asked 
by  the  President  if  he  would  sign  it ;  "  most  willingly,"  he  replied, 
and  immediately  affixed  his  name  to  that  "  record  of  glory,"  which 
has  endeared  him  to  his  country,  and  rendered  his  name  immortal. 
By  those  who  have  the  curiosity  to  compare  that  signature  with  the 
autograph  accompanying  our  portrait,  it  will  be  perceived  that  the 
first  was  traced  by  a  firm  and  manly  hand,  the  latter  after  a  lapse  of 
more  than  half  a  century,  and  at  an  age  when  "  the  keepers  of  the 
house  tremble."  Both  fac  similes  are  correct. 

Mr.  CARROLL  assisted  in  the  formation  of  the  constitution  of 
Maryland  in  1776,  and  continued  in  congress  until  1778. 

He  served  in  the  senate  of  the  state  for  several  years,  was  a 
member  of  the  United  States  senate,  from  1788  to  1791,  from  which 
time  until  1801  he  was  an  active  member  of  the  senate  of  his  native 
state. 

For  the  next  thirty  years  he  dwelt  in  the  retirement  of  private  life, 
in  the  enjoyment  of  tranquillity,  health,  fortune,  and  the  richest 
reward  of  his  patriotic  labors ;  the  veneration  and  gratitude  of  his 
country.  After  the  death  of  Jefferson  and  Adams,  in  1826,  he  was 
the  sole  survivor  of  the  immortal  band  whose  talents  and  inflexible 
virtues,  in  the  midst  of  peril,  pledged  for  their  country  all  that  men 
esteem  of  value;  life,  fortune,  honor:  and  the  sole  inheritor  of  the  rich 
legacy  of  glory  which  they  had  left.  But,  on  the  14th  of  November, 
1832,  the  mandate  which  all  must  obey,  summoned  to  the  tomb  the 
last  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence ;  that  deed  of 
noble  daring  which  gave  his  country  "a  place  among  nations,"  and 
opened  an  asylum  for  the  oppressed  of  all.  To  it  the  eyes  of  all 
nations  are  turned  for  instruction  and  example,  and  it  is  evident  that 
die  political  institutions  of  the  old  world  are  gradually  conforming  to 
its  model,  to  which  they  must  very  nearly  approach,  before  the  people 
/br  whose  happiness  governments  are  framed,  will  be  content. 


\M  LINCOLV. 

civil 

and  ud  out ; 

hav  -grande-, 

ies  and  histories  apr 

re  tQo  near  the  great  picture,  a.  one 

o  limited  a  portion  of  the  whole,  to 

fixing  our  view  on  diaconi:  f.()11. 

reat 

subject  in  ii  '^ 

on 
nd 

i"»  wa>-  our 

•iion 

a 

tucl. 
of  ( 

afterwards  to  become  So  rioted   as   the  scene  of  battles 
strategy.     He  was  a  contemporary  with  Boone,   Harrod,  and 
Kenton,  having  entered  five  hundred  ;^ret  of  land  on  Licking 
creek,  in  1782,  adjoining  lands  of  the-  hardy  pioneer  first  named 
A  year  or  two  later,  whik:  w  w..i*  en  his  new  possession,  the 
ancestral  Abraham  U*«        »M  murdered-  by^n  Indian, 
had  stealthily  come  up.-*   :.Jm  when  unsuspecting  of  danger. 
Was  it  not  a  strange  ft>roha<2ow  on  the  dial  of  time? 
group  of  young  children  thus  suddenly  made  fatherless,  three 
were  sons,  of  whom  the  youngest  was  Thomas,  a  lad  but  six 

l 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

years  old.  The  widowed  mother,  struggling  on  as  best  she 
might  in  that  wild  and  lonesome  world,  raised  them  all  to 
maturity.  Better  days  no  doubt  came,  before  the  hardy  boy 
passed  through  the  period  of  youth  and  assumed  the  responsi 
bilities  of  manhood,  yet  he  was  trained  in  the  school  of  trials  — 
of  books  knowing  but  little,  and  learning  to  write  only  his  own 
name,  in  a  mechanical  way. 

Thomas  Lincoln  reached  the  age  of  twenty-eight  years  before 
his  marriage,  which  took  place  in  1806.  His  wife,  whose 
maiden  name  was  Nancy  Hanks,  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  like 
himself,  who  had  removed  from  the  Shenandoah  valley  in  early 
childhood,  with  his  father.  Of  her  parents  nothing  is  known ; 
but  they  appear  never  to  have  visited  Kentucky  —  she  having 
probably  gone  thither  with  a  brother  or  sister.  On  his  marriage, 
Thomas  Lincoln  settled  on  a  farm  near  what  was  then  plain 
Hodgen's  Mills,  on  Nolin  creek,  seven  or  eight  miles  from 
Elizabethtown.  His  oldest  child  was  a  daughter,  who  arrived 
at  mature  years,  but  died  soon  after  her  marriage,  leaving  no 
descendant.  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  was  two  years  younger,  born 
on  the  day  .already  mentioned.  The  youngest  and  only  other 
child  was  a  son  who  died  in  early  childhood.  Thus  ABRAHAM 
became  ere  long  the  sole  representative  of  his  family.  His 
uncles,  Mordecai  and  Josiah,  early  settled  in  Indiana,  the  one 
in  Harrison,  the  other  in  Hancock  county,  where  it  is  not  known 
that  they  left  any  descendants.  Thomas  Lincoln,  thriving  but 
indifferently  in  his  first  location,  took  another  farm  in  the  same 
county,  where  fortune  proved  still  unpropitious.  The  family 
had  a  good  repute  for  native  ability,  but  made  small  advance, 
as  yet,  in  worldly  prosperity. 

In  the  autumn  of  1816,  when  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  was  a  lad  of 
only  seven  years,  his  father  determined  on  another  remove  — 
this  time  into  the  new  territory  of  Indiana,  of  which  his  older 
brothers  had  no  doubt  given  a  good  report.  He  chose  a  locality 
by  himself,  however,  in  what  was  then  Perry  county,  not  far 
from  Gentryville,  on  the  west  side  of  Anderson  creek,  soon 
after  falling  within  the  new  county  of  Spencer.  His  farm  was 
not  remote  from  the  Ohio  river,  fast  becoming  a  great  thorough 
fare,  with  its  own  peculiar  world,  at  first  of  flat-boats,  holding- 
correspondence  with  the  Mississippi  river  and  New  Orleans  — 
afterwards  to  be  outrun  or  displaced  by  more  elaborate  and 
stately  craft.  Here  the  lad  remained  with  his  father  —  passing 

2 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

through  the  period  of  early  youth  —  during  the  next  thirteen 
years.  In  1818  his  mother  died,  when  he  was  hut  nine  years 
old,  a  loss  whieh  gave  deeper  sadness  to  a  boyhood  on  which 
there  had  never  rested  too  gladsome  a  light.  He  was  beginning 
to  take  part  in  the  serious  labor  of  the  farm,  and  during  the 
succeeding  years  passed  in  Indiana,  he  learned  the  use  of  the 
axe,  in  clearing  the  forests  —  for  the  new  home  was  in  a  heavily 
wooded  region,  not  on  the  prairie  —  and  became  accustomed  to 
hold  the  plough,  or  to  drive  the  team  of  oxen  on  its  various 
errands.  His  schooling  had  not  been  altogether  neglected, 
even  before  the  removal  from  Kentucky.  lie  received  further 
rudimentary  instruction  from  two  or  three  different  teachers  in 
Indiana.  As  there  were  then  no  public  schools  in  either  State, 
private  schoolmasters  were  necessarily  employed  for  a  family 
or  a  neighborhood,  for  such  period  as  the  means  or  inclination 
of  parents  permitted.  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  was  probably  quite 
as  highly  favored  in  this  respect  as  was  usual  with  those  about 
him,  having  received  in  all,  perhaps,  the  amount  of  one  year's 
tuition.  In  addition,  he  was  studious  at  home,  acquiring  an 
earnest  love  for  reading,  restricted  in  its  indulgence  only  by 
the  limited  number  of  books  at  his  command.  He  was  early 
interested  in  a  collection  of  JEsop's  Fables,  illustrated  by  plain 
wood-cuts,  from  which  book  he  derived  many  lessons  of  prac 
tical  wisdom,  and  a  fondness  for  the  enforcement  of  a  principle 
or  the  intimation  of  an  opinion,  by  some  quaint  or  humorous 
incident  —  lessons  and  a  taste  which  he  retained  through  life. 
Another  book  which  he  read  during  these  years,  the  Life  of 
Washington,  made  a  lasting  impression  on  his  mind,  giving  it 
an  early  bent  which  perhaps  determined  his  future  course,  if  it 
did  not  awaken  aspirations  for  public  honors.  The  intensity 
and  permanence  of  the  effect  of  books  upon  a  really  eager, 
youthful  reader,  are  ordinarily  increased  in  proportion  to  the 
limitation  of  their  number.  In  this  instance  the  range  was 
very  small. 

The  community  around  Hodgenville  had  early  had  an  organ 
ized  Baptist  church,  though,  prior  to  1816,  no  place  of  worship 
had  been  built.  The  same  denomination  had  a  rude  church 
edifice  not  far  from  the  new  home  selected  by  Mr.  LINCOLN'S 
father  in  Indiana.  In  both  States,  the  family  worshipped  with 
this  sect,  and  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  early  religious  training,  like 
that  of  Henry  Clay,  was  under  its  influences.  The  Bible  was 

3 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

a  book  which  he  constantly  read,  at  the  earlier  no  less  than  the 
later  periods  of  his  life. 

From  a  desire  to  see  more  of  the  world,  perhaps  stimulated 
by  stories  of  adventure  related  by  boatmen  whom  he  casually 
met,  in  his  visits  to  the  Ohio  river  at  Troy,  the  nearest  landing 
to  his  home,  he  made  a  trip  to  New  Orleans  and  back,  when  at 
the  age  of  nineteen,  by  the  slow  conveyance  of  an  ordinary 
flat-boat,  on  which  he  "worked  his  passage."  It  was  a  long 
voyage,  full  of  novelties,  if  not  of  exciting  incidents,  and  his 
first  acquaintance  with  the  Father  of  Waters  and  with  the  great 
mart  of  the  Southwest,  afforded  new  and  valuable  lessons  to 
his  impressible  mind. 

In  1830,  being  now  of  age,  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  removed  with 
his  father  to  Illinois,  and  aided  him  in  enclosing  part  of  a  new 
farm,  on  the  Sangamon  river,  writh  rail  fence,  giving  rise  to  the 
popular  notion  concerning  his  special  exploits  as  a  rail-splitter. 
The  farm  was  occupied  by  his  father  but  for  a  year,  when  they 
both  turned  in  new  directions  —  the  father  making  his  last 
settlement  in  Coles  county,  farther  eastward,  while  the  son 
undertook  a  second  flat-boating  expedition,  by  the  Sangamon 
and  Illinois  rivers  to  the  Mississippi,  and  thence  to  ~New  Orleans. 
After  his  return,  he  was  employed  for  a  time  in  a  country  store 
at  New  Salem,  in  Menard  county,  where  he  was  appointed 
Postmaster,  under  the  administration  of  President  Jackson, 
though  known  to  be  a  political  supporter  of  Henry  Clay.  It 
was  after  remaining  a  year  or  more  in  this  position,  that  he 
enlisted  in  a  company  raised  in  1832  for  service  in  what  is 
known  as  the  Black  Hawk  war.  He  was  chosen  captain  of  the 
company,  by  a  very  flattering  vote  —  an  honor  which  he  highly 
appreciated.  lie  was  out  for  about  three  months,  without  hap 
pening,  however,  to  be  in  any  actual  engagement. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  first  experience  as  a  candidate  for  a  political 
office  was  at  the  State  election  in  Illinois,  in  August,  1832, 
when  twenty-three  years  of  age,  and  just  after  his  return  from 
the  Black  Hawk  war.  He  had  as  yet  become  but  little  known 
beyond  the  immediate  vicinity  of  his  residence,  which  gave 
him  a  nearly  unanimous  vote  for  Representative  in  the  State 
Legislature.  In  other  parts  of  the  district,  however,  his  name 
was  scarcely  at  all  presented,  and  he  was  not  elected  —  a  fact 
which  did  not  detract  from  the  gratifying  result  in  his  own 
township,  where  the  partisan  majority  was  decidedly  against 

4 


ABRAHAM  LITOOLK 

him.  He  received  two  hundred  and  seventy-seven  out  of  the 
entire  two  hundred  and  eighty-four  votes  cast,  while  Jackson, 
a  little  later  in  the  same  year,  received  a  majority  of  more  than, 
one  hundred  and  fifty  over  Clay.  Two  years  afterwards,  Mr. 
LINCOLN  was  chosen  Representative,  receiving  about  two  hun 
dred  more  votes  than  any  of  his  associates  on  the  same  general 
ticket.  He  was  re-elected  in  1836  —  the  term  being  two  years— 
and  during  the  sessions  of  that  and  the  following  year,  he  came 
to  be  regarded  as  a  leader  on  the  Whig  side  of  the  House,  then 
decidedly  in  the  minority.  In  1838  he  was  again  re-elected; 
and  the  House  was  now  more  equally  divided,  between  the 
two  parties.  Mr.  LINCOLN  was  selected  by  the  Whigs  as  their 
candidate  for  Speaker,  and  was  beaten  by  his  Democratic  com 
petitor  on  the  fourth  ballot,  who  received  one  majority. 

During  these  years  of  service  in  the  Legislature,  Mr.  LIN 
COLN  had  been  engaged,  first  as  a  surveyor,  at  the  same  time 
pursuing  the  study  of  law,  and  afterwards,  having  been  duly 
admitted  to  the  bar,  in  the  practice  of  the  legal  profession.  In 
the  Spring  of  1837  he  removed  to  Springfield,  to  which  place 
the  State  Capital,  by  an  act  of  the  Legislature  already  passed, 
was  to  be  transferred  two  or  three  years  later.  For  the  fourth 
time  he  was  elected  to  the  Legislature,  in  which,  as  before,  he 
was  the  acknowledged  leader  on  the  Whig  side,  and  the  party 
candidate  for  Speaker  of  the  House.  This  was  in  1840,  and 
the  last  election  he  was  willing  to  accept  as  a  member  of  the 
State  Legislature.  Daring  the  comparatively  long  period  of 
his  continuance  in  that  body,  he  effectively  aided  in  shaping  a 
liberal  policy  of  internal  improvements  for  his  State,  and  in 
furthering  the  development  of  its  ample  resources. 

The  discussions  which  had  arisen  in  the  North  on  the  subject 
of  Slavery,  and  the  violent  attempts  to  suppress  this  agitation, 
which  had  resulted  in  the  death  of  Lovejoy  at  Alton,  Illinois, 
began  to  cast  a  shadow  over  the  general  politics  of  that  State, 
before  the  close  of  Mr.  LINCOLN'S  legislative  service.  In  1837 
the  dominant  party  in  the  Legislature  passed  resolutions  on 
this  subject,  of  a  radical  Southern  character,  and  the  effort  was 
made  to  affix  the  odium  of  "  Abolitionism  "  on  all  who  refused 
to  sustain  this  ultra  Pro-Slavery  action.  Mr.  LINCOLN,  one 
other  representative  from  Sangamon  county  joining  him,  on 
the  3d  of  March,  1837,  caused  a  protest  against  these  resolutions 
to  be  entered  on  the  journal  of  the  House,  in  the  course  of 

5 


NATIONAL   POKTRAITS. 

which  they  said  :  "  They  helieve  that  the  institution  of  slavery 
is  founded  on  both  injustice  and  bad  policy;  but  that  the  pro 
mulgation  of  Abolition  doctrines  tends  rather  to  increase  than 
abate  its  evils.  They  believe  that  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  has  no  power,  under  the  Constitution,  to  interfere  with 
the  institution  of  slavery  in  the  different  States.  They  believe 
that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  has  the  power,  under 
the  Constitution,  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia; 
but  that  the  power  ought  not  to  be  exercised,  unless  at  the 
request  of  the  people  of  said  District."  At  that  day,  Mr.  LIN 
COLN  can  have  little  imagined  how  prominent  and  controlling  a 
question  this  was  to  be  in  our  subsequent  political  history,  and 
least  of  all  the  leading  part  he  was  to  take,  as  an  instrument 
in  the  removal  of  the  great  evil  then  so  firmly  seated  in  the 
country. 

For  the  twelve  years  succeeding  his  admission  to  the  bar  in 
1836,  his  attention  was  engrossingly  devoted  to  his  chosen  pro 
fession  of  the  law.  By  gradual  but  sure  advancement,  he  was 
making  his  way,  during  this  period,  to  the  highest  rank  among 
the  counsellors  and  advocates  of  the  West.  He  had  a  clear, 
logical  mind,  quick  to  apprehend  the  cardinal  points  of  his 
case,  tenacious  of  the  facts  and  principles  on  which  the  issue 
turned,  eminently  fair  and  honorable  in  dealing  with  his  oppo 
nents,  and  assiduous  in  doing  his  whole  duty  to  whatever  client 
he  attempted  to  serve.  He  had  great  influence  over  the  minds 
of  jurors,  by  the  perspicuity  and  vigor  of  his  statements,  the 
candid  and  earnest  manner  of  his  arguments,  and  the  native 
humor  and  simplicity  of  his  illustrations.  Before  the  higher 
courts,  his  power  was  scarcely  less  manifest  in  the  treatment  of 
purely  legal  questions,  his  propositions  and  his  mode  of  ex 
pounding  them  having  a  convincing  weight  and  force  with  the 
more  enlightened  judges.  He  was  a  man  of  diligent  and 
thorough  research  in  the  matters  pertaining  to  his  profession, 
and  he  derived  illustrations  for  his  work,  as  well  as  a  breadth 
of  view,  a  maturity  of  judgment,  and  a  general  cultivation,  no 
less  in  extended  and  various  reading,  than  in  his  close  observa 
tion  of  men  and  life.  He  was  a  favorite  among  his  associates 
at  the  bar,  towards  whom  his  deportment  was  uniformly  kind 
and  courteous,  and  to  whom  his  presence  was  always  an  inex 
haustible  source  of  social  pleasure  and  good  feeling.  His 
arrival  at  any  county-seat,  in  court  time,  came  to  be  a  marked 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN". 

event,  and  his  coming  was  always  cordially  welcomed.  lie  had 
a  rare  success  in  winning  the  affections  of  those  with  whom  he 
came  in  contact,  even  his  warmest  political  adversaries  mani 
festing  a  sincere  appreciation  of  the  high  capacity  of  his  mind 
and  of  the  great  excellence  of  his  heart.  Had  he  never  been 
known  outside  of  his  character  of  advocate  and  jurist,  he  would 
have  attained  to  a  lasting  fame  among  the  greatest  men  of  the 
Northwest. 

His  public  connection  with  politics,  during  these  years,  was 
limited  to  a  few  brief  episodes,  until,  in  the  natural  course  of 
events,  he  was  chosen  to  represent  his  district  in  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States.  In  1844,  after  the  nomination  of  Henry 
Clay  by  acclamation,  at  Baltimore,  as  the  Whig  candidate  for 
the  Presidency,  Mr.  LINCOLN  accepted  a  nomination  for  Presi 
dential  Elector,  involving,  according  to  custom  in  the  West,  an 
active  canvass  in  behalf  of  his  candidate.  Ever  more  ready 
to  labor  for  others  than  careful  to  study  his  own  immediate 
interests,  and  earnestly  devoted  as  he  had  been  all  his  lifetime 
to  the  personal  fortunes  and  political  maxims  of  Clay,  Mr. 
LINCOLN  willingly  gave  up  a  season's  labor  to  the  cause.  After 
numerous  public  addresses  to  large  audiences  in  different  parts 
of  his  own  State,  he  accepted  an  invitation  to  cross  the  Wabash 
and  to  make  a  series  of  speeches  in  the  more  hopeful  arena  of 
Indiana,  where  his  successful  services  were  long  gratefully 
remembered.  A  dark  foreshadowing  of  evil  from  the  election 
of  Mr.  Polk,  the  annexation  of  Texas,  and  the  direct  conse 
quences,  strongly  impressed  his  far-reaching  and  prescient 
mind.  Almost  unconsciously,  still,  as  when  his  modest  protest 
was  entered  on  the  Journal  of  the  Illinois  House  of  Representa 
tives,  and  in  spite  of  his  conservative  tendencies,  slavery  seemed 
to  be  more  and  more  intertwining  itself  with  his  own  and  his 
country's  destiny.  He  dreaded  a  multiplication  of  the  dark 
threads  in  the  fateful  web,  while  deprecating  any  attempts  vio 
lently  to  tear  out  those  already  interwoven.  But  his  efforts 
were  baffled.  The  result  of  the  election  for  a  time  seemed 
closely  balanced,  not  without  the  hope  of  a  final  inclination  to 
the  side  of  his  anticipations.  At  last,  came  the  decisive  news. 
Clay  was  beaten.  It  was  a  painful  disappointment.  To  him, 
it  was  not  a  personal  but  a  national  misfortune.  Without 
despondency,  however,  he  'continued  his  proper  professional 
work,  assiduously  and  steadfastly,  as  before. 


POETRAIT3 

Mr.  LINCOLN  was  married  on  the  4th  of  ~No  member,  1842,  to 
Miss  Mary  Todd,  one  of  four  daughters  of  the  Hon.  Robert  S. 
Todd,  of  Lexington,  Kentucky,  the  eldest  of  whom  had  pre 
viously  married  and  settled  in  Springfield.  The  two  younger 
sisters,  subsequently  married,  became  residents  of  the  same 
place.  Mr.  LINCOLN  had  ever  the  warmest  attachment  for  his 
family  and  home.  His  wife,  in  turn,  by  her  constant  sympathy 
and  counsel,  and  perhaps  by  words  of  hopeful  aspiration,  aided 
his  advancement  while  ministering  to  the  happiness  of  the 
domestic  circle.  Of  the  four  sons  born  to  them,  it  may  be 
mentioned  here,  only  the  oldest  and  the  youngest  survive  — 
Robert  T.,  bearing  the  name  of  his  maternal  grandfather,  and 
Thomas  (familiarly  called  uTad"),  named  after  his  paternal 
grandfather. 

In  1846,  Mr.  LINCOLN  was  chosen  as  a  Representative  in  Con 
gress.  The  district  in  which  he  resided  had  given  Mr.  Clay 
less  than  1,000  majority  in  1844.  Two  years  later,  it  gave  Mr.. 
LINCOLN  over  1,500  majority  for  Member  of  Congress.  A  com 
parison  of  this  vote  with  any  other  cast  in  the  district,  before 
or  since,  while  comprising  the  same  territory,  will  conclusively 
prove  his  personal  popularity.  It  was  an  eventful  period  of 
national  history.  Texas  had  been  annexed.  The  war  with 
Mexico  was  going  on.  The  decided  Democratic  majority  in 
both  Houses  of  Congress,  at  the  opening  of  Mr.  Folk's  Admin 
istration,  had  now  to  give  place  to  an  opposition  (Whig)  majo 
rity  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  with  a  Senate  no  longer 
able  to  command  a  partisan  two-thirds  vote  for  the  Administra 
tion.  Among  the  more  distinguished  members  of  this  House 
were,  John  Quincy  Adams  (who  died  during  its  first  session), 
Jacob  Collamer  and  George  P.  Marsh,  of  Vermont,  Joseph 
R.  Ingersoll  of  Pennsylvania,  Samuel  F.  Vinton  of  Ohio,  Caleb 
B.  Smith  of  Indiana,  John  M.  Botts  of  Virginia,  A.  H.  Stephens 
and  Robert  Toombs  of  Georgia,  and  M.  P.  Gentry  of  Tennes 
see,  on  the  Whig  side ;  and  David  Wilmot  of  Pennsylvania,  R. 
B.  Rhett  of  South  Carolina,  Howell  Cobb  of  Georgia,  Linn 
Boyd  of  Kentucky,  Andrew  Johnson  of  Tennessee,  James 
McDowell  of  Virginia,  and  Jacob  Thompson  of  Mississippi. 
In  the  Senate  were  such  statesmen  as  Daniel  Webster,  John  C. 
Calhoun,  Thomas  H.  Benton,  John  M.  Clayton,  John  Bell, 
Hannibal  Hamlin,  William  L.  Dayton,  S.  S.  Phelps,  Thomas 
Corwin,  William  R.  King,  and  John  M.  Berrien.  For  some 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

time  previously  Stephen  A.  Douglas  —  who  had  gone  to  Illinois 
(from  Vermont),  a  year  or  two  later  than  Mr.  LINCOLN,  and  who 
was  elected  to  the  Illinois  Legislature,  for  the  first  and  only 
time,  when  Mr.  LINCOLN  received  his  second  election  —  had 
been  a  member  of  the  lower  branch  of  Congress.  He  now  first 
took  his  seat  in  the  Senate.  The  one  had  come  to  be  the  recog 
nized  leader  of  the  Whig  party  in  Illinois,  before  the  other 
had  gained  the  like  position  in  the  Democratic  party.  Mr. 
LINCOLN  was  in  his  thirty-ninth  year  when,  on  the  6th  of  De 
cember,  1847,  he  first  took  his  seat  in  the  National  House  of 
Representatives. 

While  disapproving  many  of  the  acts  of  the  Administration 
in  regard  to  the  Mexican  war,  and  particularly  as  to  the  mode 
of  its  inception,  Mr.  LINCOLN  gave  a  hearty  support  to  all 
essential  war  measures  —  sometimes  breaking  away  from  the 
majority  of  his  own  party,  in  his  independent  action  on  this 
question.  This  was  true  with  regard  to  a  resolution,  intro 
duced  on  the  3d  of  January,  1848,  instructing  the  Committee 
on  Military  Affairs  to  inquire  into  the  expediency  of  "  requesting 
the  President  of  the  United  States  to  withdraw  to  the  east  bank 
of  the  Rio  Grande  our  armies  now  in  Mexico^  and  to  propose 
to  the  Mexican  government  a  treaty  of  peace,"  on  certain  speci 
fied  terms,  nearly  equivalent  to  an  admission  of  the  injustice 
of  the  Avar.  Mr.  LINCOLN  voted  with  the  minority  in  favor  of 
laying  the  resolution  on  the  table,  and  against  the  resolution  on 
a  direct  vote.  He  also  unhesitatingly  voted  for  the  supplies 
called  for  by  the  War  Department  to  sustain  our  armies,  and 
for  expressions  of  thanks  to  our  officers  and  men  for  their  gal 
lant  services  rendered  in  Mexico.  His  first  speech  in  Congress 
was  made  on  the  12th  of  January,  1848,  in  opposition  to  Presi 
dent  Polk's  views,  as  presented  in  his  annual  message,  regarding 
the  origin  of  the  war.  After  referring  to  certain  questions 
before  proposed  with  regard  to  the  jurisdiction  within  which 
our  forces  were  at  the  commencement  of  hostilities,  Mr.  LIN 
COLN  proceeded:  "Let  him  answer,  fully,  fairly,  candidly.  Let 
him  answer  with  facts  and  not  with  arguments.  Let  him 
remember  he  sits  where  Washington  sat;  and,  so  remembering, 
let  him  answer  as  Washington  would  answer.  As  a  nation 
should  not,  and  the  Almighty  will  not,  be  evaded,  so  let  him 
attempt  no  evasion,  no  equivocation.  And  if,  so  answering,  he 
can  show  that  the  soil  was  ours  where  the  first  I  lood  of  the 

9 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

war  was  shed — that  it  was  not  within  an  inhabited  country,  or, 
if  within  such,  that  the  inhabitants  had  submitted  themselves 
to  the  civil  authority  of  Texas,  or  of  the  United  States,  and 
that  the  same  is  true  of  the  site  of  Fort  Brown  —  then  I  am 
with  him  for  his  justification." 

In  the  Legislature  of  Illinois,  and  in  his  addresses  to  the 
people,  Mr.  LINCOLN  had  been  an  earnest  advocate  for  a  liberal 
system  of  internal  improvements  —  in  the  State,  by  the  con 
struction  or  encouragement  of  important  public  works,  and  in 
the  nation,  by  facilitating  navigation  on  the  great  rivers  of  the 
country,  and  by  giving  increased  value  to  the  harbors  on  our 
coast.  On  the  20th  of  June,  1848,  he  made  an  extended  speech 
on  this  subject,  in  Congress,  in  review  of  a  message  of  President 
Polk,  vetoing  a  bill  making  appropriations  for  certain  improve 
ments.  The  objections  raised,  including  the  constitutional 
question,  were  fairly  met  with  clear  argument,  his  speech  being 
rather  marked  by  its  candor  of  statement  and  force  of  logic, 
than  by  eloquence  or  graces  of  style.  "  That  the  subject  is  a 
difficult  one,"  he  said,  near  the  close  of  his  remarks,  "  cannot 
be  denied.  Still,  it  is  no  more  difficult  in  Congress  than  in  the 
State  Legislatures,  in  the  counties,  or  in  the  smallest  municipal 
districts  which  everywhere  exist.  All  can  recur  to  instances  of 
this  difficulty  in  the  case  of  county  roads,  bridges,  and  the  like. 
One  man  is  offended  because  a  road  passes  over  his  land;  and 
another  is  offended  because  it  does  not  pass  over  his ;  one  is 
dissatisfied  because  the  bridge,  for  which  he  is  taxed,  crosses 
the  river  on  a  different  road  from  that  which  leads  from  his 
house  to  town ;  another  cannot  bear  that  the  county  should  get 
in  debt  for  these  same  roads  and  bridges;  while  not  a  few 
struggle  hard  to  have  roads  located  over  their  lands,  and  then 
stoutly  refuse  to  let  them  be  opened,  until  they  are  first  paid 
the  damages.  Even  between  the  different  wards  and  streets  of 
towns  and  cities,  we  find  this  same  wrangling  and  difficulty. 
Now,  these  are  no  other  than  the  very  difficulties  against  which, 
and  out  of  which,  the  President  constructs  his  objections  of 
*  inequality,'  '  speculation,'  and  *  crushing  the  Treasury.'  There 
is  but  a  single  alternative  about  them  —  they  are  sufficient,  or 
they  are  not.  If  sufficient,  they  are  sufficient  out  of  Congress 
as  well  as  in  it,  and  there  is  the  end.  We  must  reject  them  as 
insufficient,  or  lie  down  and  do  nothing  by  any  authority. 
Then,  difficulty  though  there  be,  let  us  meet  and  overcome  it. 

10 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

'Attempt  the  end,  and  never  stand  to  doubt; 
Nothing  so  hard,  but  search  will  find  it  out.' 

Determine  that  the  thing  can  be  done,  and  then  we  shall  find 
the  way." 

Mr.  LINCOLN  delivered  another  speech  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  on  the  27th  of  July,  1848  —  the  session  having  been 
prolonged  until  the  14th  of  August,  long  after  the  presidential 
nominations  of  that  year  had  been  made  —  his  subject  on  this 
occasion  being  the  main  issues  of  the  canvass,  and  the  relative 
merits  of  the  candidates,  Gen.  Taylor  and  Mr.  Cass.  On  the 
constantly  recurring  question  concerning  the  restriction  of 
slavery  —  on  which  a  third  party  had  this  year  been  organized 
at  Buffalo,  with  Martin  Van  Buren  for  its  presidential  candi 
date —  Mr.  LINCOLN  spoke  as  follows:  "I  am  a  Northern  man, 
or,  rather,  a  "Western  Free-State  man,  with  a  constituency  I 
believe  to  be,  and  with  personal  feelings  I  know  to  be,  against 
the  extension  of  slavery.  As  such,  and  with  what  information 
I  have,  I  hope  and  believe,  Gen.  Taylor,  if  elected,  would  not 
veto  the  [Wilmot]  proviso ;  but  I  do  not  know  it.  Yet,  if  I 
knew  he  would,  I  still  would  vote  for  him.  I  should  do  so, 
because,  in  my  judgment,  his  election  alone  can  defeat  Gen. 
Cass;  and  because,  should  slavery  thereby  go  into  the  territory 
we  now  have,  just  so  much  will  certainly  happen  by  the  election 
of  Cass ;  and,  in  addition,  a  course  of  policy  leading  to  new 
wars,  new  acquisitions  of  territory,  and  still  further  extensions 
of  slavery."  To  the  charge  that  the  Whig  party  had  "always 
opposed"  the  war  with  Mexico,  he  replied,  after  re-affirming 
the  opinion  that  it  was  "unnecessarily  and  unconstitutionally" 
begun  by  President  Polk :  "  But  if,  when  the  war  had  begun, 
and  had  become  the  cause  of  the  country,  the  giving  of  our 
money  and  our  blood,  in  common  with  yours,  was  support  of 
the  war,  then  it  is  not  true  that  we  have  always  opposed  the 
war.  With  few  individual  exceptions,  you  have  constantly  had 
our  votes  here  for  all  the  necessary  supplies.  And,  more  than 
this,  you  have  had  the  services,  the  blood,  and  the  lives  of  our 
political  brethren  in  every  trial,  and  on  every  field.  The 
beardless  boy  and  the  mature  man,  the  humble  and  the  distin 
guished —  you  have  had  them.  Through  suffering  and  death, 
by  disease  and  in  battle,  they  have  endured,  and  fought,  and 
fallen  with  you.  Clay  and  Webster  each  gave  a  son,  never  to 
be  returned.  From  the  State  of  rny  own  residence,  besides 

11 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

other  wot  thy  but  Cess  known  Whig  names,  we  sent  Marshall, 
Morrison,  Baker,  and  Ilardin  ;  the}'  all  fought,  and  one  fell, 
and  in  the  fall  of  that  one,  we  lost  our  best  Whig  man.  Nor 
were  the  Whigs  few  in  number,  or  laggard  in  the  day  of 
danger.  In  that  fearful,  bloody,  breathless  struggle  at  Buena 
Vista,  where  each  man's  hard  task  was  to  beat  back  five  foes, 
or  die  himself,  of  the  five  high  officers  who  perished,  four  were 
Whigs." 

After  the  adjournment  of  Congress,  Mr.  LINCOLN  took  an 
active  part  in  the  presidential  canvass,  first  visiting  New  Eng 
land,  on  invitation,  but  giving  most  of  his  time  to  the  North 
west,  where  Mr.  Cass  was  especially  strong.  The  result  partly 
compensated  for  the  disappointment  experienced  four  years 
before.  Mr.  LINCOLN  himself  had  declined  a  re-election  to  Con 
gress,  but  his  district  gave  to  Gen.  Taylor  nearly  the  same 
majority  (over  1500)  that  the  former  had  received  two  years 
earlier.  The  short  session  of  the  following  winter  is  chiefly 
memorable  for  the  attempts  made,  on  the  one  hand,  to  suppress 
the  slave-trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  for  the  sugges 
tion  (by  Mr.  Lincoln  himself)  of  a  plan  of  gradual  emancipation 
in  the  District,  with  the  consent  of  its  citizens ;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  to  secure  some  legislation  "  more  effectually  to 
enable  owners  to  recover  their  slaves  escaping  from  one  State 
into  another."  Thus  two  of  the  questions  which  were  promi 
nently  to  enter  into  the  discussions  of  the  next  succeeding 
Congress,  and  become  elements  of  the  compromise  measures 
of  1850,  were  already  engrossing  attention.  Mr.  LINCOLN'S 
action  in  regard  to  them  was  accordant  with  his  anti-slavery 
convictions,  though  not  favorable  to  violent  and  immediate 
change.  He  retired  again  to  private  life,  with  a  reputation 
perhaps  rarely  attained  by  any  man,  in  a  service  in  Congress 
limited  to  one  term;  and  the  more  striking  from  the  number 
of -distinguished  political  leaders  who  were  his  associates  in  the 
House. 

The  five  years  following  his  retirement  from  Congress  were 
years  of  professional  activity  and  success,  little  interrupted  by 
participation  in  the  excited  political  affairs  of  that  period. 
Already  the  country  was  entering  within  the  penumbra  of  that 
great  eclipse  of  the  national  peace  and  harmony  which  was  to 
culminate  ten  years  later.  The  agitation  resulting  from  the 
attempt  to  enlarge  the  area  of  slavery,  and  from  the  persistent 

li 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLX. 

r»ppos  tion  to  the  admission  of  California  into  the  Union,  with 
the  free  constitution  of  her  choice,  had  finally  been  composed, 
for  the  time,  by  the  series  of  compromise  measures  passed  in 
1850.  Both  the  great  political  parties  had  accepted  those  mea 
sures  as  a  final  settlement  in  the  presidential  canvass  of  1852 ; 
and  the  third  party,  which  had  supported  Mr.  Van  Buren  four 
years  previously,  was  dwarfed  to  unimportant  dimensions.  The 
almost  unanimous  voice  of  the  people,  North  and  South,  seemed 
to  be  for  peace,  and  for  the  avoidance  of  any  further  excite 
ment  on  the  question  of  slavery.  This  superficial  adjustment, 
however,  as  the  event  showed,  had  brought  no  permanent 
healing  to  the  nation.  The  "era  of  good  feeling"  was  rather 
apparent  than  real,  and  unexpectedly  brief  in  its  duration. 
The  Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  reported  by  Mr.  Douglas  in  the 
Senate,  in  1854,  was  the  disturbing  cause  which  re-opened  the 
strife  that  had  been  only  smothered,  not  quenched.  That  bill, 
which  abrogated  the  pledge  made  to  the  North,  on  the  admis 
sion  of  Missouri  as  a  Slave  State,  1hat  slavery  should  never  be 
permitted  within  any  portion  of  the  territories  of  the  United 
States  north  of  the  parallel  of  thirty-six  degrees  and  thirty 
minutes  north  latitude,  passed  the  Senate  on  the  26th  of  May, 
1854,  and  at  once  aroused  intense  indignation  everywhere 
throughout  the  North.  By  dint  of  party  discipline  and  the  exe 
cutive  influence  of  President  Pierce,  combined  with  the  general 
recusancy  of  southern  Whigs,  insuring  a  "  united  South,"  this 
act  of  bad  faith  and  worse  expediency  was  consummated  by 
the  concurrence  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 

Mr.  LINCOLN  could  not  remain  indifferent  at  such  an  hour  as 
this.  The  Whig  party,  to  which  he  had  been  so  long  attached, 
was  broken  up  by  the  conduct  of  its  southern  leaders.  The 
Democratic  party  was  rent  in  twain.  Mr.  Douglas,  returning 
to  his  home  after  the  close  of  the  session,  met  a  tempest  of 
disapprobation,  and  was  unable,  on  his  first  attempt,  even  to 
gain  a  hearing  in  Chicago,  where  he  had  so  lately  been  the 
popular  favorite.  A  similar  feeling  existed  in  a  great  portion 
of  the  State,  though  not  manifesting  itself  elsewhere  in  a 
refusal  to  hear  his  speeches  designed  to  allay  the  general  hosti 
lity,  and  to  bring  back  his  old  friends  to  his  support.  Mr. 
LINCOLN  met  him  in  debate  on  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Com 
promise,  in  October,  at  Springfield,  and  again  at  Peoria,  on 
which  latter  occasion,  especially,  he  made  an  argument  and 

" 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

appeal  of  great  pOAver,  and  roused  the  hearts  of  the  people  to 
a  truer  set  timent  on  the  great  question  now  unavoidably  be- 
comino-  uppermost  in  the  affairs  of  the  nation.  As  Mr.  LINCOLN, 
from  this  time  onward,  rose  rapidly  into  the  position  of  a 
national  leader  in  the  cause  thus  earnestly  espoused,  some 
brief  passages  from  his  Peoria  speech,  showing  its  spirit,  are 
here  cited : 

"Thus,  with  the  author  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  policy  of 
prohibiting  shivery  in  new  territory  originated.  Thus,  away  back  of  the  Con 
stitution,  in  the  pure,  fresh,  free  breath  of  the  Revolution,  the  State  of  Virginia 
and  the  National  Congress  put  that  policy  in  practice.  Thus,  through  more 
than  sixty  of  the  best  years  of  the  Republic,  did  that  policy  steadily  work  to 
its  great  and  beneficent  end.  And  thus,  in  those  five  States,  and  five  millions 
of  free,  enterprising  people,  we  have  before  us  the  rich  fruits  of  this  policy. 
But  now,  new  light  breaks  upon  us.  Now,  Congress  declares  this  ought  never 
to  have  been,  and  the  like  of  it  must  never  be  again.  The  sacred  right  of  self- 
government  is  grossly  violated  by  it.  We  even  find  some  men,  who  drew  their 
first  breath,  and  every  other  breath  of  their  lives,  under  this  very  restriction, 
now  live  in  dread  of  absolute  suffocation,  if  they  should  be  restricted  in  the 
'sacred  right'  of  taking  slaves  to  Nebraska.  That  perfect  liberty  they  sigh 
for  —  the  liberty  of  making  slaves  of  other  people  —  Jefferson  never  thought 
of;  their  own  fathers  never  thought  of;  they  never  thought  of  themselves,  a 
year  ago.  How  fortunate  for  them  they  did  not  sooner  become  sensible  of 
their  great  misery !  Oh,  how  difficult  it  is  to  treat  with  respect  such  assaults 
upon  all  we  have  ever  really  held  sacred." 

Of  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  Mr.  LINCOLN 
said  : 

"  I  think,  and  shall  try  to  show,  that  it  is  wrong ;  wrong  in  its  direct  effect, 
letting  slavery  into  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  and  wrong  in  its  prospective  prin 
ciple,  allowing  it  to  spread  to  every  other  part  of  the  wide  world,  where  men 
can  be  found  inclined  to  take  it.  This  declared  indifference,  but,  as  I  must 
think,  covert  real  zeal  for  the  spread  of  slavery,  I  cannot  but  hate.  I  hate  it 
because  it  deprives  our  republican  example  of  its  just  influence  in  the  world; 
enables  the  enemies  of  free  institutions  with  plausibility  to  taunt  us  as  hypo 
crites;  causes  the  real  friends  of  freedom  to  doubt  our  sincerity;  and  especially 
because  it  forces  so  many  good  men  among  ourselves  into  an  open  war  with  the 
very  fundamental  principles  of  civil  liberty,  criticising  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  and  insisting  that  there  is  no  right  principle  of  action  but  self- 
interest." —  "The  law  which  forbids  the  bringing  of  slaves  from  Africa,  and 
that  which  has  so  long  forbidden  the  taking  of  them  into  Nebraska,  can  hardly 
be  distinguished  on  any  moral  principle ;  and  the  repeal  of  the  former  could 
find  quite  as  plausible  excuses  as  that  of  the  latter."  —  "  After  an  angry  and 
dangerous  controversy,  the  parties  made  friends  by  dividing  the  bone  of  con 
tention.  The  one  party  firet  appropriates  his  own  share,  beyond  all  power  to 
be  disturbed  in  the  possession  of  it,  and  then  seizes  the  share  of  the  other 
party.  It  is  as  if  two  starving  men  had  divided  their  only  loaf;  the  one  had 

14 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

hastily  swallow  eu  his  half,  and  then  grubbed  the  other's  half  jast  as  he  was 
putting  it  to  his  mouth."  —  "Slavery  is  founded  in  the  selfishness  of  man's 
nature  —  opposition  to  it,  in  his  love  of  justice.  These  principles  are  in  an 
eternal  antagonism ;  and  when  brought  into  collision  so  fiercely  as  slavery 
extension  brings  them,  shocks,  and  throes,  and  convulsions,  must  ceaselessly 
follow.  Repeal  the  Missouri  Compromise  —  repeal  all  compromise  —  repeal 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  —  repeal  all  past  history  —  you  still  cannot 
repeal  human  nature.  It  still  will  be  the  abundance  of  man's  heart  that 
slavery  extension  is  wrong;  and  out  of  the  abundance  of  his  heart  his  mouth 
will  continue  to  speak."  —  "But  '  Nebraska'  is  urged  as  a  great  Union-saving 
measure.  Well,  I  too  go  for  saving  the  Union.  Much  as  I  hate  slavery,  I 
would  consent  to  the  extension  of  it  rather  than  see  the  Union  dissolved,  just 
as  I  would  consent  to  any  great  evil  to  avoid  a  greater  one.  But  when  I  go  to 
Union-saving,  I  must  believe,  at  least,  that  the  means  I  employ  have  some 
adaptation  to  the  end.  To  my  mind,  '  Nebraska'  has  no  such  adaptation. 

'It  hath  no  relish  of  salvation  in  it.' 

It  is  an  aggravation,  rather,  of  the  only  one  thing  which  ever  endangers  the 
Union.  When  it  came  upon  us,  all  was  peace  and  quiet.  ...  It  could 
not  but  be  expected  by  its  author,  that  it  would  be  looked  upon  as  a  measure 
for  the  extension  of  slavery,  aggravated  by  a  gross  breach  of  faith." 

In  October,  1854,  a  new  party  organization  (afterwards  taking 
the  name  of  Republican),  was  formed  in  Illinois,  as  had  pre 
viously  occurred  in  other  States,  comprising  most  of  the  old 
Whig  party,  the  Democrats  opposed  to  the  repeal  of  the  Mis 
souri  Compromise,  and  the  Free-Soil  party,  united  on  the  basis 
of  opposition  to  any  further  extension  of  slavery.  Though 
late  in  the  field,  this  party  gained  a  substantial  triumph  in  the 
autumn  elections,  carrying  five  out  of  the  nine  Congressional 
districts,  and  choosing  forty  members  of  the  lower  branch  of 
the  State  Legislature,  to  thirty-five  Democrats.  The  State 
Senate  was  not  gained;  but  the  Democratic  strength  was  so 
reduced  that  there  was  a  majority  of  two,  on  joint  ballot, 
against  the  Nebraska  Democrats.  This  result  was  important 
from  the  fact  that  the  Legislature  was  to  elect  a  United  States 
Senator  for  the  term  commencing  on  the  4th  of  March,  1855, 
in  place  of  Ja.mes  Shields.  The  Anti-Nebraska  party  generally 
favored  the  election  of  Mr.  LINCOLN  to  the  Senatorship.  It 
required,  however,  the  votes  of  certain  Democratic  Senators, 
chosen  two  years  earlier,  who  were  reluctant  to  break  away 
altogether  from  the  party  that  elected  them,  though  opposed  to 
any  candidate  favoring  the  policy  of  Mr.  Douglas.  On  the 
first  ballot  (in  February,  1855),  Mr.  LINCOLN  led  his  Democratic 
opponent,  Gen.  Shields,  four  votes.  After  several  ballots,  Mr 

15 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

LINCOLN  generously  withdrew  his  name,  rather  than  further 
hazard  the  result,  and  his  friends  gave  their  votes  to  Judge 
Trumbull,  an  Anti-Nebraska  Democrat,  who  was  elected  on 
the  tenth  ballot.  The  sacrifice  of  the  hopes  entertained  of  the 
elevation  of  Mr.  LINCOLN  to  the  position  they  deemed  him  so 
eminently  fitted  to  fill,  was  a  sore  personal  disappointment  to 
his  friends,  but  it  abated  nothing  from  his  and  their  devotion 
to  the  cause  in  which  he  was  still  the  acknowledged  leader. 

In  1856  the  Republican  party  was  fully  organized,  and  in  the 
presidential  canvass  of  that  year,  Mr.  LINCOLN  took  an  active 
part.  His  own  State  elected  Col.  Bissell,  the  candidate  of  both 
the  Republicans  and  "Americans,"  to  the  Governorship ;  but 
through  a  division  of  the  strength  of  these  two  parties  between 
"Fremont  and  Fillmore,  the  electoral  vote  was  given,  by  a  small 
plurality,  to  Buchanan. 

The  quiet  which  was  for  a  time  anticipated,  following  the 
election  of  Mr.  Buchanan,  was  again  disturbed  by  the  same 
aggressive  power  which  had  forced  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise.  The  territory  of  Kansas  had  been  made  a  de 
batable  ground  between  freedom  and  slavery  by  that  repeal, 
and  the  struggle  had  been  protracted  and  violent.  At  length, 
it  became  manifest  that  the  Free-State  men  were  in  a  decided 
majority,  and  that  an  anti-slavery  constitution  was  demanded 
by  the  people  of  Kansas.  Under  these  circumstances,  unscru 
pulous  pro-slavery  leaders  determined  on  a  scheme  of  force  and 
fraud,  to  defeat  the  very  "popular  sovereignty"  to  which  they 
had  professedly  appealed.  They  were  backed  by  nearly  every 
Southern  Senator  and  Representative  in  Congress,  and  by  the 
active  influence  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  Administration.  A  pro- 
slavery  constitution  was  promulgated  at  Lecompton,  the  terri 
torial  capital,  which  became  a  by-word  of  political  chicanery 
and  falsehood.  No  well-informed  man  doubted  the  honest 
sentiment  of  the  actual  residents  of  the  territory  to  be  largely 
preponderant  on  the  side  of  a  free  constitution.  So  palpably 
unjust  and  absurd  was  the  attempt  to  force  a  recognition  of  the 
Lecompton  Constitution,  in  spite  of  the  known  facts  of  the 
case,  that  Mr.  Douglas  himself,  and  a  large  number  of  Demo 
crats  with  him,  broke  with  the  Administration  on  this  issue. 

While  this  question  was  as  yet  undisposed  of  in  Congress  — 
on  the  21st  of  April,  1858  —  the  friends  of  Mr.  Douglas,  secur 
ing  the  control  of  the  party  machinery  in  spite  of  hostile  Ad- 

10 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

ministration  influences,  nominated  a  State  ticket  at  Springfield, 
and  endorsed  the  action  of  Douglas  and  his  Anti-Lecompton 
associates.  The  great  stake  in  the  approaching  State  canvass 
was  the  senatorship  for  six  years,  to  be  determined  by  the 
Legislature  to  be  chosen  in  November.  Mr.  Douglas,  with  the 
now  powerful  Republican  organization  against  him,  and  the 
influence  of  Buchanan's  Administration  adverse  to  his  re-elec 
tion,  boldly  entered  the  arena,  when  others  would  have 
despaired.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Republicans  were  now 
hopeful  of  securing  a  Senator  of  their  own  faith  in  his  place ; 
and  in  their  State  Convention,  held  on  the  16th  of  June,  they 
unanimously  declared  Mr.  LINCOLN  to  be  their  "first  and  only 
choice"  for  that  place.  In  a  speech  made  on  that  occasion, 
Mr.  LINCOLN  sounded  the  key-note  of  the  canvass  in  these  ever 
memorable  words : 

"We  are  now  far  on  into  the  fifth  year,  since  a  policy  was  initiated  with  the 
avowed  object,  and  confident  promise,  of  putting  an  end  to  slavery  agitation. 
Under  the  operation  of  that  policy,  that  agitation  was  not  only  not  ceased,  but 
has  constantly  augmented.  In  my  opinion,  it  will  not  cease  until  a  crisis 
shall  have  been  reached  and  passed.  *  A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot 
stand/  I  believe  this  Government  cannot  endure,  permanently,  half  slave  and 
half  free.  I  do  not  expect  the  Union  to  be  dissolved  —  I  do  not  expect  the 
house  to  fall  —  but  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be  divided.  It  will  become  all 
one  thing,  or  all  the  other.  Either  the  opponents  of  slavery  will  arrest  the 
further  spread  of  it,  and  place  it  where  the  public  mind  shall  rest  in  the  belief 
that  it  is  in  the  course  of  ultimate  extinction,  or  its  advocates  will  push  it 
forward,  till  it  shall  become  alike  lawful  in  all  the  States,  old  as  well  as  new  — 
North  as  well  as  South." 

The  long  canvass  which  followed  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  whole  country,  the  speeches  011  each  side  being  published 
at  length  in  the  newspapers,  and  the  contest  rose  into  national 
importance.  Collected  in  a  volume,  these  speeches  and  debates 
of  Mr.  LINCOLN  and  Mr.  Douglas,  reported  by  their  respective 
friends  and  revised  by  each,  have  been  widely  read,  finding 
special  favor  with  the  adherents  of  the  former,  who  were  con 
tent  to  leave  both  disputants  to  be  judged  by  their  own  words. 
From  the  close  of  this  canvass,  in  November,  Mr.  LINCOLN  had 
a  national  reputation,  as  one  of  the  chief  men  of  his  party. 
Beaten  by  a  small  majority  of  the  legislative  vote,  through  the 
peculiarities  of  the  representative  apportionment,  he  had  a 
clear  majority  of  the  popular  vote  in  Illinois.  Mr.  Douglas 
was  re-elected,  but  at  the  expense  of  such  concessions  to  the 

17 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

Hentiments  of  his  opponent  and  of  the  people  of  his  State,  as 
lost  him  forever  the  compact  Democratic  strength  of  the  South, 
in  support  of  his  aspirations  to  the  Presidency.  The  persistent 
demand  of  the  Northern  Democracy  for  his  nomination  at 
Charleston,  broke  that  party  in  twain,  and  left  a  comparatively 
easy  victory  to  the  Republicans. 

Mr.  LINCOLN,  who  had  now  a  profitable  practice  at  the  bar, 
not  seriously  interrupted  by  these  occasional  episodes  in  poli 
tics,  made  two  able  speeches  in  Ohio,  in  September,  1859,  and 
another  at  Cooper  Institute  in  New  York  City,  on  the  27th  of 
February,  1860  —  one  of  the  ablest  of  all  his  public  addresses. 
At  the  Republican  National  Convention,  which  assembled  in 
Chicago,  on  ttie  16th  of  May  following,  he  proved  to  be  the 
favorite  candidate  of  the  people  for  the  Presidency,  receiving 
the  votes  of  a  majority  of  the  delegates  on  the  third  ballot. 
The  Democratic  party  in  the  North  chiefly  supported  Mr. 
Douglas  —  in  the  South,  Mr.  Breckinridge.  The  canvass  was 
still  further  complicated,  by  an  "American"  nominee,  in  the 
person  of  Mr.  Bell  of  Tennessee.  The  Southern  leaders  began 
now  openly  to  avow  their  Disunion  purposes,  in  the  event  of  a 
Republican  triumph  —  on  the  very  issues  which  they  themselves 
had  forced  —  and  all  the  more  earnestly  was  this  determination 
proclaimed  as  the  election  of  Mr.  LINCOLN  became  more  cer 
tain.  This  insurrectionary  policy,  under  the  guise  of  Seces 
sion —  supposed  to  have  a  greater  plausibility  than  a  confessedly 
cftrect  revolt  —  had  long  been  maturing.  For  thirty  years,  it 
had  been  carefully  nursed  in  South  Carolina  especially,  and  in 
1850  had  found  an  open  advocate  in  Jefferson  Davis,  then  a 
candidate  for  Governor  of  Mississippi.  On  his  State  he  had 
already  entailed  lasting  disgrace,  by  drawing  her  people  into 
the  criminal  dishonesty  of  repudiating  her  solemn  pecuniary 
obligations.  This  agitator,  in  origin  as  humble  as  ABRAHAM 
LINCOLN,  had  come  to  be  the  most  prominent  champion  of  the 
aristocratic  slaveholding  interest,  which  affected  to  sneer  at  the 
"poor  white"  of  the  South,  whom  the  people  now  raised  to 
the  highest  political  power. 

Mr.  LINCOLN  received  the  electoral  vote  of  every  Free  State 
save  New  Jersey,  which  gave  him  four  votes  and  Mr.  Douglas 
three.  Mr.  Breckinridge  had  the  electoral  vote  of  every  Slave- 
holding  State  except  Virginia,  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  which 
gave  majorities  for  Mr.  Bell,  and  Missouri,  which  voted  for  Mr. 

18 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

Douglas.  The  aggregate  electoral  vote  for  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
was  180 ;  for  John  C.  Breckinridge,  72 ;  for  John  Bell,  39 ;  and 
for  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  12.  Every  State  had  participated  in 
the  election,  and  was  honorably,  no  less  than  legally,  bound  to 
abide  the  result.  But  many  weeks  before  the  electoral  votes 
were  officially  canvassed,  the  pretended  work  of  Secession  had 
commenced,  and  the  final  organization  of  a  complete  revolt  of 
the  slaveholding  States  was  pressed  to  a  conclusion.  Mr.  Bu 
chanan,  while  denying  the  Constitutional  right  of  Secession, 
had  proclaimed,  in  his  December  message,  his  concession  that 
he  could  do  nothing  to  prevent  its  consummation.  The  zeal 
for  involving  every  Southern  State  in  the  rebellion  was  conse 
quently  quickened,  that  the  three  months  of  his  Administration 
remaining  might  find  this  audacious  attempt  fully  recognized. 

South  Carolina,  the  mother  of  this  heinous  plot,  led  off  with 
an  "ordinance  of  Secession"  on  the  20th  of  December,  1860. 
On  the  9th  of  January,  1861,  Mississippi,  obedient  to  the 
prompting  of  Jefferson  Davis,  responded  by  a  similar  act. 
Alabama,  Florida  and  Georgia  followed  the  example  in  quick 
succession.  Louisiana,  by  dint  of  falsehood  and  fraud,  was 
made  to  utter  a  similar  voice  on  the  28th  of  January.  The 
State  of  Texas,  at  last  breaking  over  the  wholesome  restraints 
imposed  by  Gov.  Houston,  was  added  to  the  roll  of  Secession 
on  the  1st  of  February.  One  after  another,  in  haughty  gran 
deur,  the  delegations  from  these  several  States  withdrew  from 
Congress.  The  rebellion  had  thus  spread  through  seven  States, 
which,  by  representatives  assembled  at  Montgomery,  Alabama, 
on  the  6th  of  February,  organized  a  "Southern  Confederacy," 
under  a  temporary  constitution,  Negro  slavery  being  its  chief 
corner-stone,  with  Jefferson  Davis  for  President,  and  Alexander 
H.  Stephens  for  Vice  President.  The  spread  of  the  revolt  was 
now  apparently  arrested  for  a  time,  the  Confederacy  receiving 
no  new  accessions  from  the  eight  remaining  slaveholding 
States  —  in  which,  however,  emissaries  and  agitators  were 
busily  at  work  —  during  the  next  two  months. 

Mr.  LINCOLN  was  duly  inaugurated  as  President  of  the  United 
States,  on  the  4th  of  March,  1861.  His  inaugural  address  —  a 
production  of  rare  ability  and  of  ever  increasing  historic  value  — 
breathes,  while  not  wanting  in  manly  firmness,  the  tenderest 
spirit  of  peace,  persuasion,  entreaty.  While  calmly  stating  the 
obligations  he  has  assumed  in  taking  his  official  oath,  he  pro- 

19 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

poses  the  utmost  possible  concessions  within  the  limits  permitted 
him,  and  declares  that  "  there  need  be  no  bloodshed  or  violence, 
and  there  shall  be  none,  unless  it  is  forced  upon  the  national 
authority."  He  argues  for  peace  with  impassioned  earnest 
ness  :  "  Physically  speaking,  we  cannot  separate ;  we  cannot 
remove  our  respective  sections  from  each  other,  nor  build  an 
impassable  wall  between  them.  A  husband  and  wife  may  be 
divorced,  and  go  out  of  the  presence  and  beyond  the  reach  of 
each  other;  but  the  different  parts  of  our  country  cannot  do 
this.  They  cannot  but  remain  face  to  face ;  and  intercourse, 
either  amicable  or  hostile,  must  continue  between  them.  Is  it 
possible,  then,  to  make  that  intercourse  more  advantageous  or 
more  satisfactory  after  separation  than  before?  Can  aliens 
make  treaties  easier  than  friends  can  make  laws  ?  Can  treaties 
be  more  faithfully  enforced  between  aliens  than  laws  can 
among  friends  ?  Suppose  you  go  to  war,  you  cannot  fight 
always ;  and  when,  after  much  loss  on  both  sides,  and  no  gain 
on  either,  you  cease  fighting,  the  identical  questions  as  to  terms 
of  intercourse  are  again  upon  you." 

Words  were  vain  to  stay  the  hot  madness  of  the  revolt.  Fu 
tile  were  the  concessions  proposed  by  the  Peace  Conference, 
and  by  the  Corwin  Amendment  to  the  Constitution,  forever 
prohibiting  any  interference  with  slavery  in  the  States.  Even 
the  Crittenden  Compromise,  practically  surrendering  all  oppo 
sition  to  the  extension  of  slavery,  was  spurned.  Nothing  but 
the  impossible  concession  of  Disunion  would  be  listened  to  by 
the  rebel  leaders.  Their  chief  anxiety  now  was  to  draw  the 
other  slaveholding  States  into  the  vortex  of  their  crime.  For 
this  end,  Fort  Sumter  was  attacked  on  the  12th  of  April,  and 
its  slender  but  gallant  garrison  of  United  States  troops  under 
Anderson  was  forced,  by  armed  traitors  one  hundred  times 
greater  in  number,  and  by  a  series  of  surrounding  batteries,  to 
surrender  on  the  14th.  This  deed,  inaugurating  civil  war,  was 
less  potent  in  the  South  than  was  at  first  hoped,  but  it  gained 
four  more  of  the  slaveholding  States  to  the  Secession  cause  — 
Virginia,  North  Carolina,  Tennessee  and  Arkansas.  This  was 
the  utmost  accession  which  the  Rebellion  was  to  gain.  Mary 
land,  Delaware,  Kentucky  and  Missouri  could  neither  be  per 
suaded  nor  forced  into  the  fatal  alliance  of  crime.  This  rebel 
act  of  war  was  still  more  effective  in  harmonizing  the  North, 
which  was,  for  the  time,  a  unit  in  the  support  of  the  Govern- 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

merit,  sinking  all  party  ties  in  loyal  devotion  to  the  flag  of  the 
Union. 

President  LINCOLN  at  once  called  into  the  field,  by  his  procla 
mation  of  April  15,  1861,  an  army  of  75,000  volunteers.  The 
response  was  prompt  and  hearty.  Nearly  as  many  more  —  of 
volunteers  and  regulars  combined  —  were  called  out  on  the  3d 
of  May.  Men  were  offered  in  such  numbers,  that  many  regi 
ments  were  declined.  Congress  wras  assembled  in  extra  session, 
on  the  4th  of  July,  and  provided  for  calling  out  500,000  volun 
teers.  A  rebel  force  was  meanwhile  pushed  forward  to  occupy 
Manassas  Junction,  controlling  the  communications  from  Wash 
ington  towards  Richmond,  Lynchburg  and  the  Shenandoah 
Valley,  and  menacing  the  Capital.  Alexandria  and  Arlington 
Heights  were  occupied  by  Government  forces  on  the  24th  of 
May ;  an  advance  was  made  into  Western  Virginia  from  Ohio, 
on  the  26th ;  Cairo,  Illinois,  was  garrisoned  somewhat  earlier ; 
and  about  the  1st  of  June,  a  loyal  army,  under  Gen.  Lyon,  was 
put  in  the  field  in  Missouri.  Thus  the  long  line  of  operations, 
stretching  from  the  Potomac  to  the  farther  side  of  the  Missis 
sippi,  and  the  fields  of  action,  during  a  destructive  war  no 
longer  avoidable,  were  indicated  in  outline. 

To  follow  these  events  will  be  the  work  of  the  historian  for 
ages  to  come.  Even  a  brief  summary  would  require  a  volume. 
Never  was  war  conducted  on  a  grander  scale,  or  in  a  nobler 
cause  than  that  in  which  Mr.  LINCOLN,  as  the  chosen  ruler  of 
the  people,  successively  sent  forth  his  hundreds  of  thousands 
to  battle  for  the  nation's  life  and  for  the  rights  of  humanity. 
The  disaster  at  Bull  Run,  on  the  21st  of  July,  1861,  was  fol 
lowed  by  the  fruitless  campaign  on  the  Peninsula  and  before 
Richmond,  in  1862.  Successes  in  West  Virginia,  Missouri,  and 
Tennessee,  and  the  capture  of  New  Orleans,  partly  relieved  the 
depressing  effect  of  these  misfortunes  in  Eastern  Virginia, 
where  the  main  rebel  army,  under  Lee,  was  encountered. 

Mr.  LINCOLN'S  mind  was  early  directed  to  the  consideration 
of  the  relations  of  slavery  to  the  war,  not  only  as  its  funda 
mental  cause,  but  also  as  one  of  the  chief  elements  of  strength  or 
weakness  to  the  rebels,  as  his  own  treatment  of  it  should  deter 
mine.  Besides,  he  was  by  no  means  indifferent  —  as  seen  in 
what  has  already  been  quoted  from  his  utterances  of  years 
before  —  to  that  impulse  of  justice  which  demands  that  the 
oppressed  shall  be  relieved  of  their  burdens,  and  their  wrongs 


NATIONAL  PORTBAITS. 

redressed  by  the  strong  hand  of  power.  "If  slavery  is  not 
wrong,  nothing  is  wrong,"  had  been  his  earnest  conviction 
from  his  earliest  recollection.  Assurances  and  concessions 
made  to  a  defiant  oligarchy,  as  an  inducement  for  them  to 
cease  agitation  and  remain  good  citizens,  were  no  longer  just 
restraints  on  his  actions,  when  all  such  proffers  had  been  con 
temptuously  scouted,  and  every  right  and  privilege  under  the 
Constitution  forfeited  by  overt  acts  of  treason.  In  the  exercise 
of  his  legitimate  authority  as  commander-in-chief  of  the  army 
and  navy,  he  at  length  determined  to  strike  a  fatal  blow  at  the 
very  root  of  the  insurrection  —  slavery  itself — at  once  gaining 
a  high  military  advantage,  and  improving  the  opportunity  to 
rid  the  nation  forever  of  an  institution  incompatible  with  its 
harmonious  existence.  He  issued  his  PROCLAMATION  OF  EMAN 
CIPATION,  on  the  22d  day  of  September,  1862,  which  was  put  in 
full  force  on  the  1st  day  of  January,  1863.  From  this  act  dates 
the  downfall  of  slavery  in  the  United  States.  Its  anticipated 
effect  was  not  over-estimated.  It  was  the  one  thing  that  needed 
to  be  done.  It  accomplished  its  ends. 

The  year  1863  beheld  the  Mississippi  river  regained,  by  the 
decisive  victories  at  Yicksburg  and  Port  Hudson;  the  army 
of  Lee  hurled  back  defeated  and  dispirited  from  Gettysburg ; 
and  East  Tennessee  occupied  by  our  forces.  Half  the  rebel 
territory  was  already  reclaimed ;  but  the  formidable  armies  of 
Lee,  at  Orange  Court-House,  Virginia,  and  of  Johnston,  at 
Dalton,  Georgia,  were  still  confronting  the  armies  of  Meade,  in 
the  East,  and  of  Grant,  in  the  West,  as  they  went  into  winter 
quarters  at  the  close  of  the  year.  The  navy,  meanwhile,  had 
successfully  maintained  the  blockade  proclaimed  by  President 
LINCOLN,  along  the  entire  coast,  with  only  such  occasional 
evasions,  on  the  part  of  English-built  vessels,  chiefly,  as  were 
to  be  expected.  Foreign  complications,  which  Davis  had 
eagerly  desired,  and  his  numerous  emissaries  labored  for,  were 
skilfully  avoided.  The  popular  elections,  which  had  gone 
adversely  in  many  States  in  1862,  after  a  season  of  military 
failures,  had  now  been  favorable  to  the  Administration,  return 
ing  a  Congress  which  supported  Mr.  LINCOLN'S  policy  —  con 
trary  to  the  example  of  the  previous  twenty  years,  in  the  choice 
of  a  Congress  for  the  last  half  of  a  Presidential  term. 

The  military  preparations  on  both  sides  were  energetic  and 
earnest,  and  the  resumption  of  active  operations  in  the  Spring 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

of  1864  was  looked  forward  to  with  an  anxious  interest,  in  tho 
hope  that  the  season  would  not  pass  without  decisive  results. 
Congress  had  revived  the  office  of  Lieutenant-General,  and  the 
President  had,  early  in  March,  appointed  Gen.  Ulysses  S.  Grant 
to  that  position,  with  the  chief  military  command.  Leaving 
the  Western  forces  to  the  direction  of  Gen.  Sherman,  the  Lieu 
tenant-General  gave  his  immediate  personal  attention  to  affairs 
in  Virginia.  The  main  object  to  be  gained  was  the  envelop 
ment  and  crushing  of  the  principal  army,  under  Lee,  while 
Sherman  penetrated  the  interior  of  the  States  of  Georgia  and 
the  Carolinas.  From  the  Rapidan  to  the  Appomattox,  many  a 
sanguinary  conflict  attested  the  determination  of  the  loyal 
forces,  and  the  desperation  of  their  foe.  The  Wilderness, 
Spottsylvania,  and  Cold  Harbor,  are  fields  saturated  with  blood ; 
and  they  will  be  ever  memorable  for  the  unyielding  tenacity 
and  valor  with  which  Meade  and  his  men,  obedient  to  the  will 
of  the  Lieutenant-General,  steadily  pushed  forward  in  the 
great  closing  work  of  the  war.  At  Petersburg,  Lee  was  closely 
occupied  —  only  sending  out  an  invading  expedition  into  the 
Shenandoah  Valley  to  be  utterly  discomfited  by  Sheridan  — 
while  Sherman  fought  his  way  to  Atlanta,  driving  Johnston 
before  him,  and  made  his  grand  march  to  the  sea  at  Savannah, 
and  thence  through  the  Carolinas.  Then  came,  after  quick, 
sharp  battle,  under  Grant  and  Meade,  the  capture  of  Peters 
burg,  the  fall  of  Richmond,  the  flight  of  Davis,  the  surrender 
of  Lee,  and  the  capitulation  of  all  the  lesser  rebel  generals  and 
armies.  Valuable  aids  —  brilliant  services — were  not  wanting 
in  other  quarters.  Rosecrans  and  Pleasanton  brought  Price's 
invasion  of  Missouri  to  an  inglorious  end.  Thomas  and  Scho- 
field  sent  the  remnant  of  Hood's  routed  legions  flying  from 
Tennessee.  The  naval  squadron  under  Porter  and  the  military 
contingent  under  Terry  gained  a  brilliant  victory  at  Fort 
Fisher,  followed  by  the  occupation  of  Wilmington,  and  an  end 
of  blockade-running.  Admiral  Farragut  gained  brilliant  vic 
tories  at  Mobile.  Charleston,  the  mother  city  of  the  confede 
rate  usurpation,  now  little  else  than  a  desolation,  succumbed  to 
the  arms  of  the  Government  it  had  defied  and  provoked  by  the 
assault  on  Fort  Sumter.  The  closing  events  moved  in  rapid 
and  orderly  succession,  until  the  last  rebel  was  disarmed. 

Necessarily,  the  all-engrossing  business  of  Mr.  LINCOLN'S  Ad 
ministration,  during  this  entire  period,  was  the  dread  work  of 


RATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

war,  and  his  chief  public  acts  and  utterances  had  a  relation 
thereto.  It  was  a  time  of  domestic  insurrection  and  public 
danger,  such  as  called  for  the  suspension  of  the  writ  of  habeas 
corpus,  as  expressly  provided  in  the  Constitution,  and  compelled 
a  resort  to  martial  law,  in  many  cases,  and  to  military  arrests. 
Mr.  LINCOLN  was  denounced  for  these  procedures  —  in  which, 
if  he  erred,  it  was  perhaps  in  too  great  moderation  —  by 
many  who  wished  the  rebellion  to  succeed,  or  who  desired 
impunity  in  obstructing  the  Government  in  its  legitimate  work. 
A  portion  of  those  who  originally  constituted  the  Republican 
party  complained  that  he  did  not  go  faster  and  farther  in  the 
punishment  of  treason  and  in  dealing  with  slavery.  He  had 
his  own  views  of  the  mode  in  which  his  work  should  be  done, 
and  steadily  followed  such  indications  of  duty  as  he  clearly 
saw.  His  public  papers,  his  letters,  and  his  occasional  addresses, 
always  showed  how  intimate  were  his  sympathies  with  the 
people,  and  how  unreservedly  he  was  willing  to  confide  all  his 
public  actions,  and  even  opinions,  to  their  judgment.  He 
rejoiced  in  the  practical  advancement  of  emancipation,  by  which 
Missouri,  West  Virginia,  and  Maryland  became  Free  States, 
while  the  leaven  was  steadily  working  in  Tennessee,  Louisiana, 
Arkansas,  and  elsewhere.  He  gladly  signed  the  joint  resolu 
tion  of  Congress,  providing  for  a  constitutional  amendment 
forever  prohibiting  slavery  in  every  part  of  the  United  States 
and  throughout  its  jurisdiction.  He  early  recognized  the  man 
hood  of  the  Regro  by  putting  arms  in  his  hand.  He  initiated 
a  policy  for  restoring  the  Rebel  States  to  nominal  relations 
with  the  Government,  and  proclaimed  a  liberal  amnesty  to 
those  —  with  excepted  classes — who  had  incurred  the  penalties 
of  treason.  He  approved  a  confiscation  act,  after  its  original 
terms  had  been  somewhat  softened  by  Congress,  intended  to 
exact  from  the  authors  of  the  war  some  partial  compensation, 
at  least,  for  the  pecuniary  effects  of  their  crimes. 

In  the  choice  of  his  Cabinet,  Mr.  LINCOLN  aimed  to  secure  a 
fair  representation  from  among  the  most  eminent  party  leaders. 
Hon.  W.  II.  Seward,  of  New  York,  was  made  Secretary  of 
State;  Hon.  S.  P.  Chase,  of  Ohio,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury; 
Hon.  S.  Cameron,  of  Pennsylvania,  Secretary  of  War;  and 
Hon.  E.  Bates,  of  Missouri,  Attorney-General.  Each  of  these 
distinguished  gentlemen  had  been  prominently  named  as  a  can 
didate  for  the  Presidency.  Hon.  G.  Welles,  of  Connecticut,  was 

24 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

appointed  Secretary  of  the  Navy;  Hon.  C.  B.  Smith,  of  Indiana, 
Secretary  of  the  Interior;  and  Hon.  Montgomery  Blair,  of 
Maryland,  Postmaster-General.  Mr.  Cameron  resigned  and  was 
succeeded  by  lion.  E.  M.  Stanton,  of  Pennsylvania,  on  the  llth 
of  January,  1862.  Mr.  Chase  resigned  in  June,  1864,  and  was 
succeeded  by  Hon.  W.  P.  Fessenden,  of  Maine,  who  returned 
to  the  Senate  on  the  4th  of  March,  1865,  Hon.  Hugh  McCulloch 
of  Indiana,  being  appointed  in  his  stead.  Mr.  Smith  was  suc 
ceeded,  in  January,  1863,  by  Hon.  J.  P.  Usher,  of  Indiana, 
whom  Hon.  James  Harlan,  of  Iowa,  was  appointed  to  succeed, 
after  Secretary  McCulloch  entered  the  Cabinet.  Hon.  William 
Dennison,  of  Ohio,  succeeded  Mr.  Blair  in  the  autumn  of  1864. 
Hon.  James  Speed,  of  Kentucky,  was  appointed  Attorney-Gen 
eral,  on  the  resignation  of  Judge  Bates  on  the  1st  of  December, 
1864.  Mr.  Chase  was  appointed  Chief-Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  in  place  of  Judge  Taney,  who  died 
in  November,  1864. 

In  June,  1864,  Mr.  LINCOLN  received  from  the  Republican 
Union  party  a  unanimous  nomination  for  re-election,  with  Gov. 
Andrew  Johnson,  of  Tennessee,  as  the  candidate  for  Yice-Presi- 
dent.  The  opposing  candidates  were  Gen.  George  B.  McClellan 
and  the  Hon.  George  II.  Pendleton.  The  judgment  of  the 
people  was  fairly  taken  on  Mr.  LINCOLN'S  official  acts,  and  the 
result  was  a  most  gratifying  approval.  Since  the  re-election,  of 
Jackson,  in  1832,  no  President  had  been  re-elected.  It  had 
never  before  happened  to  a  President  from  the  Free  States  to 
be  chosen  for  a  second  term.  The  official  canvass,  on  the  8th 
of  February,  1865,  showed  that  Mr.  LINCOLN  had  received  212 
electoral  votes,  and  Gen.  McClellan  but  21.  Thus  emphatically 
did  the  people  ratify  his  past  administration,  and  extend  him 
their  confidence  for  the  future. 

Space  has  been  wanting  for  any  extended  quotations  from 
the  public  papers  of  President  LINCOLN.  His  brief  address,  on 
the  19th  of  November,  1863,  at  the  consecration  of  a  National 
Cemetery  for  the  heroes  fallen  at  Gettysburg,  must  not  be 
omitted  here.  It  is  in  these  words : 

"  Fourscore  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers  brought  forth  upon  this  conti 
nent  a  new  nation,  conceived  in  Liberty,  and  dedicated  to  the  proposition  that 
all  men  are  created  equal.  Now  we  are  engaged  in  a  great  civil  war,  testing 
whether  that  nation,  or  any  nation  so  conceived  and  dedicated,  can  long  endure. 
We  are  met  on  a  great  battle-field  of  that  war.  We  are  met  to  dedicate  a  por- 

25 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

tion  of  it  as  a  final  resting-place  of  those  who  here  gave  their  lives  that  that 
nation  might  live.     It  is  altogether  fitting  and  proper  that  we  should  do  this. 

"  But  in  a  larger  sense,  we  cannot  dedicate,  we  cannot  consecrate,  we  cannot 
hallow  this  ground.  The  brave  men,  living  and  dead,  who  struggled  here, 
have  consecrated  it  far  above  our  power  to  add  or  detract.  The  world  will 
little  note,  nor  long  remember,  what  we  say  here,  but  it  can  never  forget  what 
they  did  here.  It  is  for  us,  the  living,  rather,  to  be  dedicated  here  to  the 
unfinished  work  that  they  have  thus  far  so  nobly  carried  on.  It  is  rather  for 
us  to  be  here  dedicated  to  the  great  task  remaining  before  us — that  from  these 
honored  dead  we  take  increased  devotion  to  the  cause  for  which  they  here  gave 
the  last  full  measure  of  devotion — that  we  here  highly  resolve  that  the  dead 
ehall  not  have  died  in  vain  —  that  the  nation  shall,  under  God,  have  a  new 
birth  of  freedom,  and  that  the  Government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and 
for  the  people,  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth.'7 

Mr.  LINCOLN'S  appreciation  of  the  services  of  the  men  who 
bravely  exposed  their  lives  in  the  field  to  sustain  the  Govern 
ment  and  to  uphold  the  great  principles  of  republican  liberty, 
was  always  grateful  and  profound.  On  almost  every  public 
occasion  he  acknowledged  these  services,  and  often  in  the  ten- 
derest  terms.  He  grudged  no  General  his  fame,  and  took  care 
that  no  one  should  be  robbed  of  his  just  due  through  any  credit 
given  to  himself.  And  above  all  human  instrumentalities,  he 
recognized  the  overruling  hand  of  Providence.  He  had  a  firm 
faith  in  the  righteousness  of  his  cause,  and  in  a  God  of  justice 
and  benevolence,  whose  designs  for  humanity  would  not  permit 
the  overthrow  of  the  American  Republic. 

On  taking  his  oath  of  office  for  the  second  time,  on  the  4th 
of  March,  1865,  a  devout  tone  of  reverence  and  trust,  hardly 
paralleled  in  any  other  public  utterances  of  any  ruler,  pervaded 
his  brief  inaugural  address.  Spoken  in  the  assured  confidence 
of  a  speedy  end  of  the  military  power  of  the  rebellion,  it  mani 
fested  a  calm,  generous,  forgiving  temper,  and  an  exalted 
grandeur  of  Christian  character,  worthy  of  the  martyr  who 
was  about  to  lay  down  his  life  as  a  crowning  sacrifice  on  the 
altar  of  his  country. 

"  The  progress  of  our  arms,"  he  said,  "  upon  which  all  else  chiefly  depends, 
is  as  well  known  to  the  public  as  to  myself;  and  it  is,  I  trust,  reasonably  satis 
factory  and  encouraging.  With  high  hope  for  the  future,  no  prediction  in 
regard  to  it  is  ventured.  On  the  occasion  corresponding  to  this  four  years  ago, 
all  thoughts  were  anxiously  directed  to  an  impending  civil  war.  All  dreaded 
it  —  all  sought  to  avert  it.  While  the  inaugural  address  was  being  delivered 
from  this  place,  devoted  altogether  to  saving  the  Union  without  war,  insurgent 
agents  were  in  the  city  seeking  to  destroy  it  without  war  —  seeking  to  dissolve 
the  Union  and  divide  effects  by  negotiation.  Both  parties  deprecated  war ;  but 

26 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN". 

one  of  them  would  make  war  rather  than  let  the  nation  survive ;  and  the  other 
would  accept  war  rather  than  let  it  perish.  And  the  war  came.  Both  read  the 
same  Bible,  and  pray  to  the  same  God ;  and  each  invokes  His  aid  against  the 
other.  It  may  seem  strange  that  any  men  should  dare  to  ask  a  just  God's 
assistance  in  wringing  their  bread  from  the  sweat  of  other  men's  faces ;  but 
let  us  judge  not,  that  we  be  not  judged.  The  prayers  of  both  could  not  be 
answered  —  that  of  neither  has  been  answered  fully.  The  Almighty  has  His 
own  purposes.  '  Woe  unto  the  world  because  of  offences !  for  it  needs  be  that 
offences  come ;  but  woe  to  that  man  by  whom  the  offence  cometh.' 

"If  we  shall  suppose  that  American  slavery  is  one  of  those  offences  which, 
in  the  providence  of  God,  must  needs  come,  but  which,  having  continued 
through  His  appointed  time,  He  now  wills  to  remove,  and  that  He  gives  to 
both  North  and  South  this  terrible  war,  as  the  woe  due  to  those  by  whom  the 
offence  came,  shall  we  discern  therein  any  departure  from  those  divine  attri 
butes  which  the  believers  in  a  living  God  always  ascribe  to  Him? 

"  Fondly  do  we  hope  —  fervently  do  we  pray  —  that  this  mighty  scourge  of 
war  may  soon  pass  away.  Yet,  if  God  wills  that  it  continue  until  all  the 
wealth  piled  by  the  bondman's  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  unrequited  toil 
shall  be  sunk,  and  until  every  drop  of  blood  drawn  with  the  lash  shall  be  paid 
with  another  drawn  by  the  sword,  as  was  said  three  thousand  years  ago,  so 
still  it  must  be  said,  'The  judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true  and  righteous 
altogether/ 

"With  malice  towards  none;  with  charity  for  all;  with  firmness  in  the 
right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to  finish  the  work  we 
are  in  ;  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds  ;  to  care  for  him  who  shall  have  borne 
the  battle,  and  for  his  widow,  and  his  orphan  —  to  do  all  which  may  achieve 
and  cherish  a  just  and  a  lasting  peace  among  ourselves,  and  with  all  nations." 

Under  the  brightest  auspices,  he  entered  upon  his  second 
term.  Joyful  days  of  victory  and  assured  peace  soon  followed. 
He  lived  to  see  the  recovery  of  the  last  of  the  fortresses  that 
had  been  wrested  from  his  rightful  possession  by  traitorous 
hands,  and  to  witness  the  overflowing  of  popular  joy  at  the 
taking  of  Richmond  and  the  surrender  of  Lee.  On  the  14th 
of  April,  the  same  flag,  now  doubly  glorified,  was  raised  over 
Fort  Sumter  by  the  loyal  hand  which  had  four  years  before 
been  compelled  by  treason  to  pull  it  down.  The  circle  of  the 
war  was  complete.  The  Union  was  saved.  Universal  freedom 
was  secured.  The  Great  Republic  stood  forth  fairer  and 
stronger  than  ever,  as  a  light  of  salvation  to  the  nations  of  the 
whole  world.  In  the  midst  of  this  triumph,  at  the  summit  of 
his  fame,  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  was  basely  slain  by  an  impious 
assassin.  Sitting  in  a  private  box  at  a  theatre,  with  his  wife 
and  friends  —  past  the  hour  of  ten  o'clock  on  the  night  of  the 
14th  of  April  —  the  stealthy  step  behind  him  was  unheeded, 
until  the  fatal  pistol-shot  was  fired,  and  the  bullet  lodged  deeply 

27 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

in  his  brain.  He  died  on  the  following  morning,  amid  universal 
lamentations.  The  unfeigned  grief  of  the  people,  the  unparal 
leled  manifestations  of  their  sorrow,  followed  him  to  his  grave 
near  his  former  home.  The  world  abroad  was  profoundly 
moved  at  his  death,  and  joined  in  universal  eulogiums  upon 
the  Departed,  whose  worth  they  had  finally  learned  to  value. 

In  was  the  peculiar  fortune  of  Mr.  LINCOLN  that,  born  in  a 
Slave  State,  and  entertaining  no  more  radical  views  on  the  sub 
ject  of  slavery  than  did  the  earlier  Southern  statesmen  them 
selves,  his  whole  political  career  should  be  prominently  identified 
with  anti-slavery  movements,  and  the  most  memorable  act  of 
his  life,  the  Proclamation  which  gave  the  extinguishing  blow 
to  slavery  itself.  He  had  a  high  moral  nature,  combining  spot 
less  purity  of  life  with  the  clearest  sense  of  right  and  a  universal 
sympathy  with  all  his  fellow-men.  Because  the  Negro  was 
inferior,  was  not  to  him  any  warrant  for  refusing  respect  to  his 
rights  as  a  man.  The  colored  race  had  come  to  look  upon  him 
as  their  special  champion  and  protector.  But  he  never  made 
any  ostentatious  exhibition  of  zeal  in  their  cause. 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  was,  of  all  American  Presidents,  the 
truest  representative  of  his  nation  —  the  growth  of  its  varied 
elements  of  life,  and  the  embodiment  of  its  ideas.  He  was 
lofty  in  stature,  sinewy  and  strong  in  body,  clear,  vigorous, 
self-reliant  in  mind ;  melancholy  in  expression  of  countenance, 
plaintive  in  tone  of  voice,  yet  full  of  humor  and  ready  to  over 
flow  with  genuine  laughter ;  simple,  yet  hearty  and  winning  in 
his  manners,  abounding  in  kindness,  forgiving  in  temper; 
honest  in  all  things,  affectionate  toward  all  men,  and  devoutly 
trustful  in  God.  He  seemed  surprisingly  near  to  those  who 
approached  him,  and  cared  for  nothing  so  much,  in  his  worldly 
life,  as  to  be  in  accord  with  the  people.  From  a  station  almost 
the  humblest,  he  rose  to  a  summit  of  power  the  very  highest 
in  the  nation,  and  grandly  sustained  himself  there  at  a  period1 
the  most  eventful  the  republic  has  ever  seen,  or  perhaps  will 
ever  see.  He  made  his  way  upward  by  no  arts  or  intrigue,  by 
no  demagogism  or  deceit.  Always  estimated  below  rather 
than  above  his  true  worth,  at  each  stage  of  his  career,  his 
advancement  was  fairly  earned  and  solid.  The  superficial 
judgment  which  pronounces  him  good  but  not  great,  will 
hardly  gain  even  temporary  currency,  and  will  be  lost  from 
remembrance  in  the  admiring  reverence  of  coming  ages. 

28 


i/ 


WINFIELD  SC 


THE  grandfather  of  WINFIELD 
in  the  rebellion  of  1745,  fighting 
him  to  flee  from  his  country  and  settle  i 
lawyer.     William  Scott,  the  father  of  our 
married   Ann  'Mason,  a  lady  of  exce 
William  died  young,  leaving  his  wife  the  sol 

a  small  property,  which  only  a  rit  ay  co 

quate  for  their  support  and  education.     Y. 
Petersburg,  Virginia,  June- 
hard  v  clii- 

i 

indui 


In 

friga4 

her  crew  on  t 

SCOTT  ardent! 

a  voi 

Lynnhaven  B 

teers  wer* 

fession ;  soon,  hov, 

out  for  him  a  wide  and 

gress  passed  a  bill  to  raise  . 

President  Jefferson  a  cr 

was  ordered -to  Louisiana,  ;* 

Wilkinson,  for  which  officer  lie  N 

with  patriotic  ardor  and  honor,  hi 

Burr's  conspiracy,  and  of  this  cnn 

was  that  Wilkinson  preferred  clw 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

his  suspension  from  the  service  for  a  year.  In  this  punishment  he  had 
the  sympathy  of  his  brother  officers,  who,  on  the  occasion  of  his  sen 
tence,  complimented  him  with  a  public  dinner.  The  interval  of  suspension 
was  passed  by  SCOTT  in  a  thorough  systematic  study  of  the  science  of 
military  tactics,,  so  that  he  re-appeared  in  service  with  superior  fitness 
for  the  great  duties  now  about  to  devolve  upon  him. 

On  the  18th  of  June,  1812,  war  was  declared,  when  it  was  found 
that  the  military  preparations  of  the  country  had  been  utterly  inade 
quate  to  the  necessities  of  the  crisis.  An  expedition  was  planned  to 
seize  on  Upper  Canada,  and  the  execution  entrusted  to  General  Hull; 
who,  however,  ingloriously  surrendered  to  General  Brock,  the  British 
commander,  without  striking  a  blow.  SCOTT  felt,  with  the  whole 
country,  the  dishonor  of  the  General,  and  longed  to  avenge  our  disas 
ters  on  the  very  spot  where  they  had  been  suffered,  a  result  which  ne 
soon  after  gloriously  accomplished. 

Receiving  the  commission  of  lieutenant-colonel  from  President 
Madison,  SCOTT  repaired  to  the  Niagara  frontier,  and  took  up  his 
position  at  Black  Rock.  In  October  he  undertook,  in  conjunction  with 
Lieutenant  Elliott  of  the  navy,  the  capture  of  two  British  armed  brigs, 
the  "Adams"  and  "Caledonia,"  then  lying  moored  under  the  guns 
of  the  British  Fort  Erie,  nearly  opposite.  The  attempt  was  gal 
lant  and  successful.  Here  was  the  commencement  of  that  succession  of 
victories  which  soon  crowned  our  arms  with  glory  on  the  lakes  and 
in  Canada. 

The  American  troops  had  now  received  a  new  impulse,  and  began 
to  recover  from  their  dispirited  feelings,  arising  from  Hull's  inglorious 
surrender.  A  body  of  them  lay  below  Lewiston,  under  the  command 
of  General  Stephen  Van  Rensselaer,  and  demanded  to  be  led  into  Canada, 
though  no  sufficient  preparations  had  been  made  for  such  a  step.  SCOTT 
became  eager  to  join  the  expedition,  and  by  a  forced  march  hastened 
through  mud  and  rain  to  the  scene  of  action.  The  arrangements  of 
the  embarkation,  however,  were  such  as  to  preclude  him  from  joining 
the  columns  of  the  invading  force.  He  accordingly  took  up  a  position, 
with  his  artillery,  where  he  could  best  cover  the  landing  of  our  troops, 
and  opened  an  effective  fire  on  the  enemy.  The  divisions  under 
Colonels  Solomon  Van  Rensselaer  and  Chrystie  behaved  nobly ;  anc1 
on  the  arrival  of  General  Brock,  the  governor  of  Upper  Canada,  who 
headed  a  charge  against  our  troops,  they  mortally  wounded  Brock, 
and  his  secretary,  but  they  themselves  had  lost  Colonel  Chrystie,  and 
other  noble  spirits.  At  this  moment  SCOTT  arrived  on  the  ground,  and 
the  entire  command  of  the  corps,  now  about  six  hundred,  was  committed 


WINFIELD  SCOTT. 

to  him.  General  Wadsworth  acted  second  in  command,  and  his 
attachment  to  his  youthful  leader  often  induced  him  to  interpose  his 
own  person  to  shield  SCOTT  from  the  bullets  of  the  Indian  rifles,  which 
were  aimed  against  his  commanding  person.  The  position  of  SCOTT 
and  his  army  was  now  truly  perilous ;  the  British  garrison  at  Fort 
George  had  poured  forth  its  men,  who,  with  five  hundred  Indians, 
advanced  upon  them,  and  successive  reinforcements  continued  to  arrive 
until  their  number  was  not  less  than  thirteen  hundred  men,  while  the 
Americans  had  been  reduced  to  less  than  three  hundred.  No  succor 
was  to  be  expected,  for  our  troops  on  the  American  shore  had  refused 
to  come  to  the  aid  of  their  comrades.  Retreat  was  hopeless.  SCOTT, 
by  no  means  daunted  by  the  imminent  peril  of  his  position,  mounted  a 
fallen  tree  of  the  forest,  and  calling  around  him  his  now  diminished 
band,  uttered  these  thrilling  words :  "  The  enemy's  balls  have  thinned 
our  ranks.  His  numbers  are  overwhelming.  Directly  the  shock  must 
come,  and  there  is  no  retreat.  We  are  in  the  beginning  of  a  national 
war.  Hull's  ignominious  surrender  must  be  retrieved.  Let  us  die 

o 

then,  arms  in  hand  !  Our  country  demands  the  sacrifice.  The  example 
will  not  be  lost.  The  blood  of  the  slain  will  make  heroes  of  the  living. 
Who  is  ready  for  the  sacrifice  ?"  An  enthusiastic  cry  answered  this 
eloquent  appeal.  "We  are  ALL  ready!"  was  the  reply.  Though 
sorely  pressed,  the  Americans  maintained  their  ground,  until  finding 
themselves  utterly  surrounded  and  overwhelmed  by  superior  numbers, 
they  finally  gave  way  and  surrendered  to  the  inevitable  necessity  of 
the  occasion.  Their  heroic  resistance,  however,  redeemed  the  honor 
of  our  arms,  and  proved  by  defeat  itself  that  victory  was  close  at  hand. 
SCOTT,  by  this  calamity,  became  better  known  for  gallantry :  for  he 
was  always  in  battle  in  full  dress  uniform,  and  his  tall  stature  of  full 
six  feet  five  inches  made  him  a  conspicuous  mark,  especially  to  the 
Indians.  When  he  was  urged,  on  one  very  perilous  occasion,  on  this 
account  to  change  his  dress,  he  replied,  "  No,  I  will  die  in  my  robes." 
At  that  moment  Captain  Lawrence  fell  at  his  side  by  a  shot  from  the 
enemy. 

After  the  surrender,  while  SCOTT  was  a  prisoner  in  the  village  of 
Niagara,  an  attack  was  made  on  his  life  by  two  Indians ;  but  he 
would  have  cloven  both  to  the  earth  with  a  sword,  which  he  had  sud 
denly  laid  hold  of,  had  it  not  been  for  a  British  officer,  who,  alarmed 
by  the  noise,  interposed  and  saved  their  lives.  About  the  same  time, 
when  the  British  officers  wrere  selecting  from  the  American  prisoners 
the  Irishmen,  whom  they  intended  to  send  home  to  grace  the  gallows, 
our  hero  denounced  their  proceedings,  and  threatened  a  like  retaliation 

3 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

upon  British  prisoners  if  they  dared  to  execute  a  single  man  among  his 
comrades.  SCOTT  commanded  his  men  not  to  speak,  so  that  no  more 
Irishmen  could  be  recognized  ;  twenty-three,  however,  were  sent  home, 
but  in  the  end  returned;  as  SCOTT  was  soon  exchanged,  and  gave 
proof  that  he  had  the  power  as  well  as  the  disposition  to  retaliate  on 
the  English.  Singularly  enough,  on  the  very  day  of  the  landing  of 
these  twenty-three  returned  comrades  at  New  York,  SCOTT,  still  suf 
fering  from  wounds  he  had  in  the  meantime  received,  passed  along  the 
quay  on  foot ;  he  was  instantly  recognized  by  the  now  liberated  prison 
ers,  and  knowing  of  all  he  had  accomplished  in  their  behalf,  they 
rushed  upon  him  with  cheers,  expressing  a  fervor  of  affectionate  grati 
tude  and  delight  which  it  is  impossible  to  describe. 

Shortly  after  his  release,  SCOTT  rejoined  the  army,  as  adjutant-general, 
at  Fort  Niagara,  and  was  allowed,  at  his  own  request,  to  command  his 
own  regiment  on  all  occasions  of  peril  and  hardship.  Not  long  after 
he  was  in  great  danger ;  Dearborn,  who  was  anxiously  watching  the 
movements  of  the  troops,  seeing  with  his  glass  his  favorite  leader  fall, 
burst  into  tears,  exclaiming,  "  He  is  lost ! — He  is  killed  !"  But  our 
hero  was  neither  killed  nor  vanquished.  He  recovered  himself,  and 
rallying  his  men  again,  eagerly  rushed  forward,  sword  in  hand,  upon 
the  enemy.  A  furious  fight  ensued,  but  at  the  end  of  twenty  minutes 
the  foe  gave  ground,  and  fled  in  dismay  before  the  resistless  valor  of 
our  young  leader.  He  assaulted  the  Fort,  forced  the  gates,  and  was 
the  first  to  enter. 

Here  may  be  the  proper  place  to  give  an  anecdote  illustrative  alike 
of  the  honor  and  good  feeling  of  our  soldier.  After  his  capture,  the 
year  before,  he  was  supping  with  General  Sheafe,  and  a  number  of 
British  officers,  when  one  of  them,  a  colonel,  asked  SCOTT  if  he  had 
ever  seen  the  neighboring  Falls ;  SCOTT  replied,  "  yes,  from  the 
American  side."  To  this  the  other  sarcastically  replied,  "  you  must 
have  the  glory  of  a  successful  fight  before  you  can  view  the  cataract 
in  all  its  grandeur."  SCOTT  rejoined,  "  If  it  be  your  intention  to  insult 
me,  sir,  honor  should  have  first  prompted  you  to  return  me  my  sword  !" 
General  Sheafe  promptly  rebuked  the  British  colonel,  and  the  matter 
was  dropped.  This  same  colonel,  the  following  year,  was  taken 
prisoner  by  SCOTT  at  Fort  George,  and  treated  with  great  kindness 
and  consideration.  This  treatment  extorted  the  following  remark  from 
the  prisoner  to  his  captor :  "  I  have  long  owed  you  an  apology,  sir. 
You  have  overwhelmed  me  with  kindnesses.  You  can  now  view  the 
Falls  in  all  their  grandeur,  at  your  leisure." 

In  July  of  1813,  Colonel  SCOTT  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  a 


WINFIELD  SCOTT. 

double  regiment,  and  withdrew  from  his  post  of  adjutant-general.  In 
September  an  expedition  against  Burlington  Heights  was  planned,  and 
its  execution  entrusted  to  SCOTT;  from  hence  he  removed  to  York, 
where  he  found  large  depots  of  clothing,  provisions,  and  other  military 
stores,  together  with  several  pieces  of  cannon  and  eleven  armed  boats ; 
all  these  were  captured,  and  their  barracks  and  public  store-houses 
destroyed.  With  the  close  of  the  campaign,  a  new  and  important 
sphere  of  duty  opened  upon  Colonel  SCOTT.  He  was  now  to  be  called 
on  to  awake  a  new  army  into  being,  whose  deeds  should  efface  the 
remembrance  of  the  campaign  of  that  year,  and  whose  prowess  should 
extort  the  plaudits  of  admiring  millions.  After  making  preparations 
at  Albany  and  Buffalo  for  future  proceedings,  on  the  9th  of  March, 
1814,  he  was  appointed  brigadier-general  by  president  Madison,  at  the 
early  age  of  twenty-seven,  and  at  once  entered  on  his  duties.  We  had 
heretofore  used  the  Prussian  system  of  tactics  ;  SCOTT  now  introduced 
the  far  more  perfect  modern  French  system,  the  one  which  we  still 
employ.  The  new  recruits  were  immediately  put  under  efficient  drill ; 
the  army  was  converted  into  a  vast  military  school ;  and  was  kept 
incessantly  employed  till  it  was  thoroughly  trained;  and  the  raw 
militia  in  three  months  proved  itself  able  to  conquer  the  renowned 
veterans  of  Wellington  himself. 

It  is,  however,  impossible  in  a  work  like  this,  to  describe  the  half 
of  what  was  done  by  our  illustrious  soldier,  whose  prowess  and  fame 
were  every  day  increasing.  He  led  the  van  when  Fort  Erie  surrendered 
at  discretion  ;  at  Chippewa,  where  he  had  to  contend  with  opposing 
troops,  the  very  flower  of  the  British  army,  and  had  a  much  smaller 
number  of  men,  who  had  never  seen  service,  he  obtained  a  decided 
conquest ;  at  Lundy's  Lane,  one  of  the  most  memorable  battles  we 
ever  fought,  and  where  our  victory  was  one  of  the  dearest  we  ever 
won,  conquest  also  awaited  our  hero.  This  victory  was  indeed  ob 
tained  at  a  high  cost.  In  addition  to  our  other  great  losses,  SCOTT 
himself  was  dangerously  wounded.  His  shoulder  was  shattered,  and 
a  bullet  entered  his  side,  so  that  for  a  month  he  lay  in  a  most  critical 
state,  and  in  great  suffering.  After  enduring  much  pain  for  a  long 
season,  he  slowly  journeyed  towards  Philadelphia,  to  which  city  he  re 
paired  for  further  surgical  aid.  Every  where,  as  he  passed,  he  was 
greeted  by  all  the  public  honors  and  private  attentions  he  could  bear 
Princeton  and  Philadelphia,  and  afterwards  Baltimore  and  Washington, 
were  most  conspicuous  in  these  expressions  of  regard. 

Peace  having  been  obtained,  there  were  no  farther  labors  for  SCOTT 
in  the  field  ;  he  was,  however,  raised  to  the  rank  of  major-general,  and 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

President  Madison,  when  our  hero  was  but  twenty-eight,  offered  him 
the  post  of  secretary  of  war ;  this,  however,  he  declined.  The  en 
feebled  state  of  his  health,  and  the  desire  of  still  further  professional 
improvement,  suggested  the  desirableness  of  a  voyage  to  Europe  :  and 
the  government  gave  him  a  double  commission ;  first,  to  examine  the 
improvements  of  military  science,  and  second,  to  conduct  certain  secret 
negotiations  in  regard  to  the  independence  of  South  America,  and  the 
supposed  designs  of  England  upon  Cuba.  He  acquitted  himself  in 
these  matters  entirely  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  government.  On  his 
return  home,  he  was  placed  in  command  of  the  eastern  division  of  the 
army,  with  New  York  for  his  head  quarters.  In  1817  he  married  Miss 
Mayo,  of  Richmond,  previously  to  which  Congress  had  passed  a  vote 
of  thanks  to  him  for  the  eminent  services  he  had  rendered  to  his  country, 
and  voted  him  a  large  gold  medal,  inscribed  with  the  names  of  "  Chip- 
pewa"  and  "  Niagara,"  and  bearing  his  likeness.  The  states  of  New 
York  and  Virginia  likewise  bestowed  similar  compliments.  Each  of 
these  states  presented  him  with  a  sword  of  the  richest  workmanship. 
General  Tompkins,  of  New  York,  made  a  public  presentation  of  the 
sword  given  by  that  state,  and  in  his  address  observed  that  it  was 
presented  to  him  by  the  state  in  token  of  its  admiration  of  "  a  military 
career  replete  with  splendid  events."  A  singular  incident  is  connected 
with  the  gold  medal  presented  to  General  SCOTT  by  congress.  It  was 
at  one  time  deposited  for  safe-keeping  in  the  vault  of  the  City  Bank  of 
New  York.  A  noted  robber  broke  into  the  safe,  and  carried  off  from 
thence  everything  else  that  was  valuable ;  but  spared  this  token  of  public 
honor,  in  evident  respect  for  the  brave  soldier's  only  wealth.  The  case  ol 
the  medal  was  found  open,  but  retaining  its  precious  contents  untouched. 
Nor  was  this  the  only  instance  in  which  respect  has  been  shown  to 
true  nobility  of  soul.  Long  after  the  event  we  have  just  narrated, 
General  SCOTT,  in  traveling  by  steamboat  from  Albany  to  New  York, 
had  his  pocket  picked  of  a  purse  containing  eight  hundred  dollars  in 
gold.  On  arriving  at  New  York,  the  General  advertised  his  loss.  His 
money  was  sent  back  to  him  by  the  head  thief  of  the  city,  with  a 
respectful  assurance  that  none  of  his  people  would  have  touched  the 
General's  purse  if  they  had  known  his  person. 

Although  General  SCOTT  now  retired  for  a  while  from  active  service 
into  private  life,  he  was  by  no  means  unemployed.  He  now  commenced 
author,  and  in  1821  embodied  his  military  system  in  a  volume  entitled 
"  General  Regulations  for  the  Army"  This  was  followed  in  1825, 
in  1826,  and  in  1835  by  other  works  of  a  similar  character :  in  the  last 
instance  the  work  was  published  by  order  of  Congress.  We  owe  much 


WINFIELD  SCOTT. 

it  has  been  well  said,  to  West  Point,  but  West  Point  owes  much  to 
Gen.  SCOTT.  He  contributed  more  than  any  other  man  to  give  the 
United  States  army  its  leading  characteristics  of  high  spirit,  lofty  tone, 
gentlemanly  bearing,  extreme  efficiency,  and  love  of  duty.  Withal  he 
had  a  deep  desire  to  see  it  always  prompted  and  guided  by  a  spirit  of 
humanity ;  so  that  he  may  well  be  called  the  Father  of  the  American 
army. 

In  improving  the  discipline  of  the  army,  General  SCOTT  met  with 
much  difficulty  from  the  prevalence  of  intemperance,  and  placed  himself 
among  the  very  earliest  pioneers  of  the  temperance  reform.  As  long 
ago  as  1821,  he  published,  first  in  the  National  Gazette,  of  Philadelphia, 
and  afterwards,  in  the  form  of  a  pamphlet,  a  plan  to  discourage  the  use 
of  intoxicating  liquors  in  the  United  States.  This  paper  was  written 
with  great  ability,  and  furnished  the  matter  for  thousands  of  temperance 
addresses  since  delivered.  Indeed,  in  all  his  private  and  social  relations 
he  was  one  whom  the  youth  of  the  country  would  do  well  to  follow  as 
a  model.  His  moral  character  gives  lustre  to  his  historical  celebrity. 
Personally  he  was  without  reproach  and  above  suspicion. 

Animated  by  the  high  spirit  of  a  soldier,  General  SCOTT  took  a  lively 
interest  in  the  struggles  of  the  South  American  republics  to  secure  their 
independence.  Among  the  acts  which  illustrated  his  interest  in  Jiieir 
behalf,  were  his  successful  endeavors  to  give  a  military  education  to 
three  sons  of  General  Paez,  of  Colombia.  They  were,  by  his  exertions, 
placed  at  the  Military  Academy  at  West  Point,  in  1823,  under  the 
auspices  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  where  they  were  edu 
cated,  and  afterwards  sent  back  to  fight  for  the  liberties  of  their  native 
land. 

In  1829  our  hero  again  visited  Europe  on  a  professional  tour  of  ob 
servation  ;  and  on  his  return,  after  an  absence  of  several  months,  a 
war  with  the  Indians  on  the  Upper  Mississippi,  under  the  celebrated 
"  Black  Hawk,"  having  assumed  a  formidable  aspect,  he  was  ordered 
by  the  War  Department,  in  June  1832,  to  the  scene  of  conflict,  to 
take  command  of  the  forces  sent  to  subdue  the  savages.  He  embarked 
at  Buffalo,  with  about  one  thousand  men,  on  board  four  steamers  bound 
for  the  theatre  of  war.  On  the  passage  from  Buffalo  to  Chicago,  the 
Asiatic  Cholera,  which  then  for  the  first  time  visited  this  country, 
broke  out  on  board  the  steamers  conveying  the  troops,  in  the  most 
frightful  form.  On  board  the  General's  own  boat,  out  of  two  hundred 
and  twenty  persons,  no  less  than  fifty-two  died,  and  eighty  others  were 
committed  to  the  hospital  writhin  the  short  term  of  six  days.  The  great 
fatality  of  this  disease  spread  indescribable  terror  among  the  troops, 

7  VOL.  4.-U 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

and  among  the  population  whither  they  were  carried.  Such  was  the 
effect  produced  that  in  the  course  of  a  very  few  days,  sickness,  death 
and  desertion,  had  reduced  the  number  of  our  troops  from  nine  hundred 
and  fifty  to  four  hundred.  Amid  this  terrible  scene,  instead  of  con 
tenting  himself  with  merely  ordering  the  medical  men  to  take  all 
necessary  measures  for  the  relief  of  the  sick,  he  attended  them  in  per 
son,  and  performed  for  his  humblest  comrade  every  disagreeable  and 
dangerous  office  with  a  brother's  care.  Meantime  the  Indians  were 
subdued  by  the  Illinois  militia  and  the  troops  under  General  Atkinson, 
and  Black  Hawk  was  captured.  SCOTT  subsequently  proceeded  to  the 
place  of  his  destination,  negotiated  important  treaties  with  the  Sacs  and 
Foxes,  and  the  Winnebagoes,  composed  the  difficulties  on  that  frontier, 
and  discharged  all  the  duties  of  his  mission  in  a  manner  which  led  Mr. 
Cass,  then  Secretary  of  War,  to  say  to  him,  "Allow  me  to  congratulate 
you,  sir,  upon  this  fortunate  consummation  of  your  arduous  duties,  and 
to  express  my  entire  approbation  of  the  whole  course  of  your  proceed 
ings,  during  a  series  of  difficulties  requiring  higher  moral  courage  than 
the  operations  of  an  active  campaign  under  ordinary  circumstances." 

Were  we  writing  an  extended  biography  of  General  SCOTT,  we 
should  here  have  much  to  say  on  the  circumstances  and  the  manner 
in  which  he  executed  his  mission  to  South  Carolina.  A  convention 
of  that  state  had  passed  its  ordinance  declaring  that  the  United  States' 
revenue  laws  should  not  be  enforced  in  South  Carolina,  and  its  legis 
lature  and  executive  were  making  preparations  for  an  armed  resistance. 
His  work  demanded  a  firm  but  conciliatory  spirit,  and  great  energy  in 
action.  That  he  should  have  been  able,  in  face  of  impending  hos 
tilities,  to  associate  and  even  hold  friendly  relations  with  the  leading 
nullifiers,  seems  almost  incredible,  yet  so  it  was.  He  withdrew  from 
the  scene  with  the  reflection,  that  his  course  had  been  the  chief  means 
of  saving  his  country  from  the  horrors  of  internal  strife,  and  of  giving 
full  satisfaction  to  all  parties.  In  1835  an  Indian  war  raged  in  Florida, 
and  the  General  was  ordered  there,  but  the  campaign  ended  without 
any  important  results.  Some  complaints  were  made  because  he  did 
not  find  and  capture  the  hidden  Seminoles.  But  an  inquiry,  which 
was  instituted  at  Washington  into  that  campaign,  proved  him  entirely 
free  from  blame,  and  resulted  in  the  unanimous  approval  of  the  con 
duct  of  the  brave  commander  by  the  court.  He  was  invited  by  his 
friends  to  public  dinners  at  New  York,  Richmond,  Va.,  and  Elizabeth- 
town,  N.  J.,  but  declined  them  all,  on  account  of  the  then  commercial 
difficulties  of  the  country.  Nor  less  characteristic  were  his  efforts  in 
controlling  and  subduing  the  spirit  which,  on  our  Canadian  frontier, 


WINFIELD  SCOTT. 

almost  drove  us  into  war  with  England.  Here,  as  usual,  he  was 
successful ;  as  he  was  also  in  his  labors  with  the  fifteen  thousand  of 
the  Cherokee  Indians  who  refused  to  emigrate,  according  to  treaty, 
west  of  the  Mississippi.  His  success  in  that  case  called  forth  the 
eloquent  testimony  of  Dr.  Channing :  "  In  the  whole  history  of  the 
intercourse  of  civilized  with  barbarous  or  half-civilized  communities, 
we  doubt  whether  a  brighter  page  can  be  found  than  that  which 
records  General  SCOTT'S  agency  in  the  removal  of  the  Cherokees.  As 
far  as  the  wrongs  done  to  this  race  can  be  atoned  for,  General  SCOTT 
has  made  the  expiation.  It  would  not  be  easy  to  find  among  us  a 
man  who  has  won  a  purer  fame."  Equally  honorable  was  his  conduct 
in  1839,  in  settling  the  difficulties  connected  with  the  north-eastern 
boundary.  Here  he  reaped  new  laurels,  and  earned  a  new  claim  to 
the  title  of  the  Great  Pacificator.  But  we  must  hasten  on  to  scenes 
which,  more  than  any  we  have  yet  recorded,  have  brought  him  pro 
minently  before  the  world. 

The  death  of  Major-General  Macomb  having  taken  place  June  25, 
1841,  SCOTT  was  called  to  the  command  of  the  entire  army ;  and  in 
the  discharge  of  its  regular  duties  he  remained  almost  uninterruptedly 
for  several  years.  He  took  part,  however,  in  the  discussion  of  several 
public  topics  which  arose  during  this  period,  and  was  in  1844,  as  he 
had  been  in  1839,  a  prominent  candidate  for  the  presidency.  He  was, 
however,  on  the  eve  of  still  greater  honors. 

The  peace  of  the  country,  after  having  been  long  menaced  by  the 
state  of  our  relations  with  Mexico,  was  at  length  broken  by  an  unex 
pected  collision,  and  we  found  ourselves  plunged  into  open  war  with 
that  country.  In  May,  1846,  the  Mexican  forces  were  suddenly  pre 
cipitated  in  large  numbers  upon  the  little  army  of  General  Taylor, 
who  had  command  of  our  forces  on  the  Rio  Grande.  That  distinguished 
veteran  astonished  and  electrified  the  country  by  the  indomitable  valor 
he  displayed  in  repulsing  the  enemy,  and  in  winning,  in  swift  succes 
sion,  the  two  battles  of  Palo  Alto  and  Resaca  de  la  Palma.  On  the 
24th  of  November,  in  that  year,  General  SCOTT  set  out  from  Wash 
ington  for  the  theatre  of  hostilities,  charged  with  the  command  of  our 
arms  in  that  quarter.  He  reached  the  Rio  Grande  January  1st,  1847. 
Santa  Anna,  the  commander  of  the  Mexican  army,  lay  at  San  Luis 
Potosi,  midway  between  the  Rio  Grande  and  the  city  of  Mexico,  at 
the  head  of  twenty-two  thousand  men.  General  Taylor  had  now 
crossed  the  river  and  advanced  to  Saltillo,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  towards  San  Luis  Potosi.  He  had  under  his  command  a  force 
of  eighteen  thousand  troops,  which  occupied  the  line  connecting  his 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

advanced  position  at  Saltillo  with  the  Rio  Grande  at  Camargo.  SCOTT 
divided  this  force,  leaving  ten  thousand  men  under  General  Taylor,  and 
taking  the  remainder  with  him  by  sea  to  Vera  Cruz,  where  four  thou 
sand  other  troops  had  concentrated.  The  whole  force  was  combined 
at  the  island  of  Lobos,  and  from  that  point  the  squadron,  having  on 
board  twelve  thousand  men,  set  sail ;  General  SCOTT,  in  the  steamship 
Massachusetts,  leading  the  van.  As  his  steamer  passed  through  the 
fleet,  his  tall  form,  conspicuous  above  every  other,  attracted  the  eyes 
of  soldiers  and  sailors,  who  gave  vent  to  their  emotions  of  admiration 
and  enthusiasm  in  one  spontaneous  cheer,  which  burst  simultaneously 
from  every  vessel,  and  echoed  and  rang  along  the  whole  line.  The  fleet 
having  arrived  before  Vera  Cruz,  and  all  preparations  being  completed, 
a  little  before  sunset  on  the  9th  of  March  the  landing  of  this  armament, 
destined  for  the  reduction  of  one  of  the  most  formidable  defences  in  the 
world,  commenced,  and  before  ten  o'clock  at  night  the  troops  had  all 
been  landed  in  perfect  safety,  with  all  their  arms  and  accoutrements, 
without  the  slightest  accident,  or  the  loss  of  a  single  life — an  achieve 
ment  almost  unparalleled  in  a  military  operation  of  such  magnitude. 
In  three  days  the  army  and  the  fleet  had  taken  up  their  positions,  and 
invested  both  the  city  and  the  castle,  preparatory  to  their  bombard 
ment  and  siege.  Our  lines  of  circumvallation  were  five  miles  in  length, 
and  surrounded  the  city.  By  the  22d  all  was  ready,  and  General 
SCOTT,  having  offered  a  free  conduct  out  of  the  city  of  all  non-com 
batants,  sent  his  summons  to  the  Governor  of  Vera  Cruz  to  surrender. 
The  Governor  refused,  and  the  batteries  opened  their  destructive  fire 
upon  the  devoted  city,  while  the  ships  commenced  their  fearful  broad 
sides  upon  the  castle.  During  three  days  and  nights  an  incessant 
discharge  from  the  brazen  mouths  of  mortars  and  cannon  was  kept  up 
with  unflagging  zeal  and  irresistible  power.  On  the  25th  an  appli 
cation  for  a  truce  was  made  by  the  enemy,  which  was  refused,  and  a 
.surrender  demanded.  Accordingly,  on  the  following  morning,  over 
tures  for  a  surrender  were  made,  and  the  city  and  fortress  fell  into  our 
hands.  Among  the  fruits  of  this  victory  were  five  thousand  prisoners, 
and  five  hundred  pieces  of  artillery.  Our  loss  was  but  six  killed  and 
sixty  wounded. 

General  SCOTT  now  proposed  to  advance  upon  the  city  of  Mexico, 
but  on  the  way  had  to  grapple  with  enemies,  and  to  accomplish  mighty 
triumphs.  Santa  Anna,  who  had  just  returned  from  the  field  of  Buena 
Vista,  had  collected  all  his  forces,  and  was  posted  on  the  heights  of 
Serro  Gordo.  Here  the  Mexican  general  was  entrenched  at  the  head 
of  fifteen  thousand  troops ;  and  here  an  attack  was  made  by  SCOTT 


10 


WINF1ELD  SCOTT. 

with  the  most  consummate  skill.  In  this  action,  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  of  the  war,  he  captured  three  thousand  prisoners,  four 
thousand  stand  of  arms,  forty  pieces  of  artillery,  and  a  large  quantity 
of  ammunition.  A  large  sum  of  specie  also  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
victors.  Continuing  his  rapid  march  with  his  small  but  victorious 
army,  the  cities  of  Jalapa,  Perote,  and  Puebla,  were  successively 
taken,  with  much  treasure  in  them.  At  the  latter  plare  the  General 
met  with  Mr.  Trist,  who  had  arrived  from  Washington  with  power  to 
negotiate  with  the  enemy  for  peace.  All  his  efforts,  however,  failed  ; 
and  SCOTT,  who  had  improved  the  interval  of  hostilities  in  acquiring 
information,  determined  at  once  to  advance  on  the  city  of  Mexico,  a 
distance  of  ninety  miles.  His  whole  army  amounted  to  ten  thousand 
seven  hundred  men,  who  had  to  meet  Santa  Anna,  at  the  head  of  a 
well-appointed  army,  thirty  thousand  in  number.  To  detail  the  battles 
of  Contreras,  Churubusco,  and  Molino  del  Rey,  would  be  far  too  much 
ror  our  limits ;  this  reason  also  prevents  us  from  describing  the  forbear 
ance  he  displayed  in  granting  an  armistice  on  the  very  eve  of  certain  con 
quest — shamefully  abused,  however,  by  Santa  Anna.  Suffice  it  to  say, 
in  the  language  of  General  Cass,  when  eulogizing  SCOTT  in  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States,  "  The  movement  of  our  army  from  Puebla  was 
one  of  the  most  romantic  and  remarkable  events  which  has  ever  occurred 
in  the  military  annals  of  our  country.  Our  troops  voluntarily  cut  off 
all  communication  with  their  own  country,  and  advanced  with  stout 
hearts,  but  feeble  numbers,  into  the  midst  of  a  hostile  people.  The 
eyes  of  twenty  millions  of  our  countrymen  were  fixed  upon  this  devoted 
band.  They  were  lost  to  us  for  fifty  days.  But  the  cloud  that  hid 
them  from  our  view  at  length  broke,  and  disclosed  to  us  our  glorious 
flag  waving  in  the  breezes  that  drifted  over  the  valley  of  the  city  of 
Mexico." 

In  a  few  days  after  the  American  flag  was  hoisted  on  the  National 
Palace,  the  quiet  of  the  city  was  restored,  and  all  classes  resumed  their 
usual  avocations,  reposing  the  fullest  confidence  in  the  security  afforded 
by  our  troops  under  their  humane  and  Christian  commander.  SCOTT  was 
now  virtually  the  governor  of  Mexico.  The  manner  in  which  he  per 
formed  the  responsible  duties  which  devolved  upon  him  for  five  months 
after  his  entrance  into  the  city,  exhibited  him  as  a  man  amply  qualified 
for  the  highest  duties  of  statesmanship.  It  would  be  difficult  to  award 
any  one  higher  praise  than  he  received  from  all  parties  for  his  manage 
ment  of  Mexican  affairs  after  the  termination  of  his  military  campaign. 

On  the  2d  of  February  1848,  a  treaty  of  peace  was  signed  at  Gua- 
dalope-Hidalgo  by  the  Mexican  and  American  commissioners ;  and  on 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

the  22d  of  the  following  May  he  arrived  at  his  home  in  Elizabeth- 
town,  New  Jersey.  Here  he  was  met  by  a  committee  from  the  civil 
authorities  of  the  city  of  New  York,  and  invited  to  a  public  dinner 
in  that  metropolis.  He  accepted  the  invitation,  and  escorted  by  a 
vast  and  imposing  cavalcade,  amid  the  roar  of  cannon  and  the  wav 
ing  of  flags,  surrounded  by  dense  and  enthusiastic  masses  of  his 
fellow-citizens,  entered  the  city  and  partook  of  its  highest  honors. 
For  a  while  he  remained  at  his  head  quarters  in  New  York,  but  in 
1850  was  transferred  to  Washington,  and  took  his  place  at  the 
head  of  the  army  bureau,  there  to  discharge  its  duties  with  as 
much  industry  and  constancy  as  any  clerk  in  the  departmant. 

The  name  of  WINFIELD  SCOTT  was  upon  every  breeze  during 
the  summer  of  1852,  for  he  was  the  Whig  candidate  for  the 
Presidency.  In  recording  his  defeat,  he  writes,  "Virginia,  his 
dear  Mother  State,  utterly  repudiated  him,  her  wiseacres  pre 
ferring  a  succession  or  two  more  of  pliant  administrations  to 
pave  the  way  for  rebellion  and  ruin."  An  essay  upon  "the 
grade  of  Lieutenant-General"  might  be  an  interesting  piece  of 
history,  and  one  of  its  liveliest  sections  would  be  on  the  confer 
ring  of  that  title  upon  SCOTT.  It  was  bestowed  by  a  contentious 
Congress  at  the  close  of  1852,  but  when  Jefferson  Davis  became 
Secretarj7  of  War  everything  was  done  to  render  it  an  empty 
distinction.  Congress,  however,  did  not  allow  justice  to  be 
thwarted.  At  the  request  of  the  Lieutenant-General,  his  head 
quarters  were  transferred  to  New  York. 

For  several  years  SCOTT  took  little  active  part  in  public  affairs, 
not  even  being  assigned,  in  1856,  to  the  appropriate  duty  of 
quelling  the  "War  in  Kansas."  The  British  bullet,  still  lurk 
ing  in  his  system,  did  not  permit  him  to  forget  that  he  was  a 
veteran  warrior,  and  the  high  compliments  he  received  were 
proofs  of  the  people's  gratitude  and  appreciation.  Columbia 
College,  New  York,  conferred  upon  him  the  honorary  degree 
of  LL.D.,  and  Harvard  University  has  since  repeated  the  honor. 
He  was  generous  toward  his  enemies  and  hospitable  toward  his 
friends.  In  society  he  was  conspicuous  for  his  urbanity  and  his 
elevation  of  thought.  Rich  in  anecdote,  affluent  in  language, 
accurate  in  statement,  and  suggestive  even  in  his  ordinary  con 
versation,  his  company  was  sought  as  a  privilege  to  his  acquaint 
ances.  With  one  of  the  finest  physical  organizations  ever  given 
to  man,  as  shown  in  the  portrait,  which  was  taken  in  the  very 
prime  of  his  life,  he  could  not  walk  the  streets  without  causing 

\2 


WINFEELD  SCOTT. 

strangers  to  inquire  who  he  was.  He  was  justly  regarded  as  an 
ornament  to  his  country,  an  example  of  the  highest  and  most 
genial  qualities  of  manhood,  embellished  by  the  blandishments 
of  a  gentlemanly  demeanor,  and  dignified  by  a  lofty  tone  of 
morals  and  an  uprightness  of  personal  character  and  habits 
which  not  even  the  tongue  of  calumny  has  ever  dared  to  assail. 

The  time  was  coming  when  a  threatened  government  would 
need  his  patriotic  services,  and  a  divided  Cabinet  would  have 
the  opportunity  to  accept  or  reject  them.  In  the  Presidential 
canvass  of  1860  it  was  evident  that  the  Union  was  in  danger  of 
being  rent  by  the  factious  leaders  of  the  Southern  people. 
General  SCOTT  was  deeply  impressed  with  the  danger.  He  at 
once  addressed  a  kindly  written  memorial  to  President  Bu 
chanan,  calling  attention  to  the  necessity  of  placing  strong  gar 
risons  in  all  the  forts  which  were  likely  to  be  seized  by  those 
who  threatened  Secession.  This  was  in  October.  Rising  from 
a  bed  of  illness  he  went  from  New  York  to  Washington,  and 
personally  urged  the  administration  to  allow  him  to  put  the 
country  in  a  state  of  defence.  But  the  warnings  and  entreaties 
of  the  loyal  chieftain  were  of  no  avail  with  such  a  Cabinet.  In 
evidence  of  what  would  have  resulted  from  SCOTT'S  proposals,  it 
is  sufficient  to  quote  the  words  of  an  enemy,  who  exulted  over 
his  defeat.  They  are  from  the  Richmond  Examiner,  on  the 
occasion  of  Secretary  Floyd's  arrival  in  that  city,  he  having 
gained  his  object  in  the  Cabinet  at  Washington.  They  were 
intended  as  an  eulogy  upon  Floyd  for  his  service  to  the  South 
in  preventing  General  SCOTT'S  plan  from  being  adopted,  but  they 
are  really  an  eulogy  upon  the  venerable  chieftain : 

"The  plan  invented  by  General  SCOTT  to  stop  secession  was, 
like  all  campaigns  devised  by  him,  very  able  in  its  details,  and 
nearly  certain  of  general  success.  The  Southern  States  are  full 
of  arsenals  and  forts,  commanding  their  rivers  and  strategic 
points.  General  SCOTT  desired  to  transfer  the  Army  of  the 
United  States  to  these  forts  as  speedily  and  as  quietly  as  possi 
ble.  The  Southern  States  could  not  cut  off  communications 
between  the  Government  and  the  fortresses  without  a  great 
fleet,  which  they  cannot  build  for  years  —  or  take  them  by  land 
without  100,000  men,  and  many  hundred  millions  of  dollars, 
several  campaigns,  and  many  a  bloody  siege.  Had  SCOTT  been 
able  to  have  got  these  forts  in  the  condition  he  desired  them  ~o 
be,  the  Southern  Confederacy  would  not  now  exist." 

13 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

If  the  Lieutenant-General  was  not  permitted  to  defend  the 
whole  country,  he  was  still  determined  to  save  Washington  from 
capture,  and  to  see  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  inaugurated  as 
the  constitutionally  elected  President.  Though  he  had  not 
voted  for  him,  yet  he  would  defend  him  to  the  last.  In  his 
Autobiography  he  says  that  this  inauguration  was  "the  most 
critical  and  hazardous  event"  with  which  he  had  ever  beeut 
connected.  He  had  received  more  than  fifty  letters  from  various 
points  dissuading  him  from  being  present,  or  threatening  him 
with  assassination  if  he  dared  to  protect  the  ceremony  by  a  mili 
tary  force.  This  only  braced  him  up  for  his  loyal  duty,  and 
Washington  was  put  in  defence,  so  that  "happily  the  Govern 
ment  was  saved."  He  never  had  rendered  his  country  a  service 
of  which  he  was  so  justly  proud,  nor  for  which  he  is  more  enti 
tled  to  the  lasting  gratitude  of  the  people. 

He  wrote  of  his  later  services,  "A  cripple,  unable  to  walk 
without  assistance  for  three  years ;  on  retiring  from  all  military 
duty,  October  31,  1861  —  being  broken  down  by  recent  official 
labors  of  from  nine  to  seventeen  hours  a  day,  with  a  decided 
tendency  to  vertigo  and  dropsy  —  I  had  the  honor  to  be  waited 
on  by  President  Lincoln,  at  the  head  of  his  Cabinet,  who,  in  a 
neat  and  affecting  address,  took  leave  of  the  worn-out  soldier." 

Prompted  by  his  just  and  generous  nature,  the  President,  in 
his  first  Annual  Message  to  Congress,  said:  "Since  your  last 
adjournment,  Lieutenant-General  SCOTT  has  retired  from  the 
head  of  the  Army.  During  his  long  life  the  nation  has  not  been 
unmindful  of  his  merits  ;  yet  in  calling  to  mind  how  faithfully 
and  ably  and  brilliantly  he  has  served  his  country,  from  a  time 
far  back  in  our  history,  when  few  now  living  had  been  born, 
and  thenceforward  continually  —  I  cannot  but  think  we  are  still 
his  debtors." 

General  SCOTT  continued  to  throw  the  weight  of  his  solid 
reputation  upon  the  side  of  the  Union,  and  he  lived  to  rejoice 
in  the  victory  which  restored  peace  to  the  whole  country.  He 
died  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  May,  1866,  at  West  Point,  where 
he  was  buried  with  distinguished  honors.  The  whole  country 
joined  in  paying  unusual  respect  to  the  memory  of  a  chieftain 
whose  long  life  is  a  record  of  patriotic  devotion  and  unblem 
ished  integrity. 

14 


:B:RIG* 


A  NTH  O 


sound,  judgment,  correct  JM 
service,  merit  distinction  and  a  <; 
to  them  than  the  gallant  WAYNE. 

There  is,  indeed,  something  in  the  usam, 
immediately  presents  to  the  mind  of  every  A*/.*. 
in  the  history  of  his  country,  the  image  of  a  boW.  ***i^n»r 
and  active  officer,  of  a  ready  will  and  prompt  execut  .^i  :  a  I 
ready  to  attack  his  enemy  sword  in  hand,  but  impatient  of  ;•>«* 
This  is  the  trait  of  his  character,  which  particularly  distinguish* : 
from  those  with  whom  he  acted  in  the  revolution,  but,  which  pecu 
fitted  him  for  the  services  on  which  his  military  reputation  is 
blished.     It  has  been  said  of  him,  by  one  who  knew  him  well, 
ho 'had  "  a  coostifntional  attachment  to  the.  d«  dsion  of  the  sv 

and  s 

may 

been  a.  <  .  ^>  uv.- 

father 

young"  AY  AY: 


Even  at  school,  his  studies  we; to  iv  - 
and  it  was  only  by  the  dread  of  1 

father's  farm,  »  was 

The  subject  oi  this  s*  •  >  h  wav  ?-VT 
on  the  first  of  January,  17 IX     Vx 
rrirly  studies,  he  left  the  i>kiUtiwif4»i, 
a  good  mathemal 
which  he  pursued  with  sucoe^^  i 
Returned  his  attention  tt 
;>Min«s  valuable  manuscript 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

in  the  controversy  with  Great  Britain,  and  was  actively  engaged  in 
the  measures,  which  were  adopted  preparatory  to  the  great  struggle, 
in  which  he  performed  so  conspicuous  a  part. 

In  1774,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  deputies  to  take  into  consi 
deration  the  state  of  affairs  between  Great  Britain  and  the  colonies  ; 
was  a  member  of  the  Pennsylvania  convention,  and  a  representative 
in  the  provincial  legislature.  The  prospect  of  approaching  war 
brought  him,  at  length,  into  possession  of  his  wishes — a  military 
command.  He  retired  from  civil  employment  in  the  fall  of  1775,  and 
raised  a  regiment  of  volunteers,  of  which  he  was  elected  colonel ;  he 
afterwards  received  the  appointment  of  colonel  from  the  continental 
congress,  and  at  the  head  of  a  regiment  of  Pennsylvanians,  marched 
to  Canada.  He  served  under  General  Thompson,  at  the  battle  of  the 
Three  Rivers,  where  he  was  wounded  ;  yet  he  distinguished  himself 
by  his  courage  and  skill  in  bringing  off  the  troops,  after  his  com 
mander  was  defeated  and  taken  prisoner.  He  was  promoted  by 
congress  to  the  rank  of  brigadier  general,  February  21,  1777,  being 
at  that  time  in  command  at  Ticonderoga.  In  May  following,  he 
joined  the  commander-in-chief,  in  New  Jersey. 

At  the  battle  of  Brandy  wine,  on  the  llth  of  September,  he  was 
opposed  to  Knyphausen,  and  steadily  maintained  the  contest,  until 
after  Cornwallis  had  turned  the  right  of  the  American  army.  On 
the  16th,  the  two  armies  again  met,  to  try  the  issue  of  another  battle, 
in  which,  Philadelphia  was  to  be  the  prize  of  the  victor.  WAYNE, 
who  commanded  the  advance,  commenced  the  action  with  spirit ;  but 
a  violent  storm,  with  a  deluge  of  rain,  prevented  a  general  engagement, 
and  so  damaged  the  ammunition  of  the  Americans,  that  they  were 
obliged  to  retire  until  it  could  be  replenished,  and  the  British  army 
took  possession  of  Philadelphia  on  the  26th. 

In  the  mean  time,  WAYNE  had  suffered  an  unfortunate  surprise. 
He  had  moved  into  the  rear  of  the  British  left  wing,  and  taken  a 
position  at  about  three  miles  distance,  near  the  Paoli  tavern,  intending 
to  fall  on  them  when  they  decamped.  The  usual  precautions  were 
taken ;  but  accurate  information  of  his  position  and  force  had  been 
conveyed  to  the  British,  and  they  effected  a  surprise  at,  night,  which 
compelled  him  in  haste  to  retreat,  with  serious  loss.  The  affair  was- 
made  the  subject  of  military  investigation,  and  he  was  acquitted  with 
honor,  "as  having  done  every  thing  that  could  be  expected,  from  an 
active,  vigilant,  and  brave  officer,  under  the  orders  which  he  then 
had."  A  monument  has  been  erected  on  the  spot,  to  the  memory  ol 
the  brave  men  who  fell  there. 


ANTHONY  WAYNE. 

At  Germantown,  he  signalized  himself  by  his  bravery  in  action, 
and  prudence  in  retreat ;  he  was  twice  slightly  wounded,  and  had 
Ills  horse  shot  under  him,  within  a  few  yards  of  the  enemy's  front. 

While  the  army  lay,  in  the  winter  of  1777-8,  at  Valley  Forge, 
WAYNE  was  detached  into  New  Jersey,  with  a  body  of  troops,  to 
collect  cattle  and  destroy  the  forage,  which  would  be  likely  to  fall 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  He  succeeded,  even  in  the  face  of  the 
foe,  in  sending  into  camp  several  hundred  head  of  cattle,  and  a 
number  of  fine  horses,  and  forage.  It  was  in  consequence  of  this 
success,  that  Major  Andre  wrote  a  song,  to  the  tune  of  "Yankee 
Doodle,"  of  which  the  concluding  stanza  runs  thus  : 

"But  now  I  end  my  lyric  strain — 

I  tremble  while  I  show  it ! 
Lest  this  same  warrio-drover,  WAYNE, 
Should  ever  catch  the  poet." 

The  unfortunate  poet's  fate  soon  changed  his  mock-heroic  to  a  tragic 
strain ;  for  when  taken,  he  was  delivered  to  WAYNE,  at  Tappan. 

The  British  army  evacuated  Philadelphia,  in  June,  1778,  and 
pursued  the  direct  route  to  New  York ;  and  Washington's  force,  which 
was  about  equal  to  it,  immediately  was  put  in  motion,  and  crossed 
into  Jersey.  A  council  was  held,  to  deliberate  on  the  proper  course 
to  be  pursued.  WAYNE  and  Cadwallader  were  for  battle  ;  but  all  the 
foreign  officers,  and  a  large  majority  of  the  whole  board,  were 
decidedly  against  it.  As  the  army  drew  near  the  enemy,  in  the 
vicinity  of  Monmouth,  WAYNE  again  advocated  an  attack  ;  and  in 
the  battle  which  ensued,  he  added  to  his  reputation,  and  won  the 
commendation  of  the  commander-in-chief,  who  particularly  mentioned 
'iim  in  his  official  report. 

The  occasion  on  which  WAYNE  next  distinguished  himself,  was 
the  attack  of  Stony  Point.  This  is  a  considerable  height,  situated 
on  the  Hudson,  the  greater  part  of  whose  base  is  washed  by  the  river, 
and  the  remainder  is  covered  by  a  morass,  through  which  there  is 
but  one  crossing-place.  On  the  summit  of  the  hill  was  a  fort,  mounted 
with  heavy  cannon ;  breast- works  were  advanced  in  front  of  the 
principal  work  ;  half  way  down,  there  was  a  double  row  of  abattis  ; 
and  in  addition,  there  were  several  vessels  of  war  in  the  river,  whose 
guns  commanded  the  giound  at  the  foot  of  the  hill. 

Stony  Point  had  been  taken,  not  long  before,  by  Sir  Henry  Clinton, 
and  the  works  had  been  greatly  strengthened  by  his  orders.  General 
Washington  thought  its  recovery  of  great  moment,  and  planned  an 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

expedition  against  it,  the  command  of  which  he  entrusted  to  WAYNE. 
On  the  15th  of  July,  1779,  the  troops  left  Sandy  Beach,  at  noon,  and 
arrived  in  the  vicinity  of  the  fort,  at  eight  o'clock,  in  the  evening. 
The  measures  of  the  Americans  had  been  so  well  taken,  that  every 
person  had  been  secured,  who  could  give  information  of  their  move 
ments  to  the  fort.  The  hour  of  midnight  was  fixed  on  for  the  assault. 
At  half  past  eleven,  the  Americans  advanced  in  two  columns,  with 
unloaded  muskets,  and  fixed  bayonets.  A  forlorn  hope,  of  twenty 
men,  preceded  each  of  them,  to  remove  the  abattis  and  other  obstruc 
tions.  The  marsh  was  reached  undiscovered,  and  twenty  minutes 
before  twelve,  the  troops  rushed  to  the  charge,  amid  a  tremendous 
fire  of  musketry  and  grape  shot,  and  overcoming  every  obstacle,  they 
took  possession  of  the  fort  without  firing  a  gun. 

Sixty-three  of  the  garrison  were  killed  in  the  assault,  and  five 
hundred  and  forty-three  made  prisoners.  In  the  attack,  WAYNE 
was  wounded  by  a  musket  ball,  which  grazed  the  skull :  he  fell,  but 
instantly  rising  on  one  knee,  he  exclaimed,  "Forward,  my  brave 
fellows,  forward  !"  But  supposing  himself  to  be  mortally  wounded, 
he  requested  his  aids  to  assist  him,  that  he  might  die  in  the  fort. 
For  this  exploit,  he  received  the  thanks  of  congress,  and  a  gold 
medal. 

On  the  first  of  January,  1781,  the  Pennsylvania  troops,  in  the 
vicinity  of  Morristown,  revolted,  and  determined  to  present  their 
grievances  to  congress  in  a  body.  They  paraded  under  arms  without 
officers,  supplied  themselves  with  ammunition  and  provisions,  seized 
six  pieces  of  artillery,  and  took  the  horses  from  the  generals'  stable. 
WAYNE,  in  vain,  endeavored  to  bring  them  to  their  duty  by  expostu 
lation  :  he  cocked  his  pistol,  and  they  presented  their  bayonets  to  his 
breast,  saying,  "  we  respect  and  love  you ;  you  have  often  led  us  into 
the  field  of  battle  ;  but  we  are  no  longer  under  your  command  ;  if 
you  fire  your  pistols,  or  attempt  to  enforce  your  commands,  we  shall 
instantly  put  you  to  death."  They  assured  him,  that  they  were  still 
attached  to  the  cause  they  had  embraced,  and  would  not  abandon  it ; 
and  that  if  the  enemy  should  dare  to  come  out  of  New  York,  the} 
would,  under  his  orders,  face  them  in  the  field.  The  grievances  ol 
these  men  were  of  a  serious  character ;  but  as  it  is  not  to  our  purpose 
to  detail  them,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  notice,  that  the  majority  of  the 
Pennsylvania  line  were  discharged  from  further  service. 

WAYNE  was  then  sent  to  Virginia,  where  he  served  with  La 
Fayette  ;  and  was  present  at  the  siege  of  Yorktown,  and  contributed 
to  the  happy  termination  of  the  campaign.  He  was  then  despatched 


ANTHONY  WAYNE. 

into  Georgia,  to  protect  the  country  from  the  incursions  of  the  garrison 
of  Savannah  ;  and,  if  he  found  a  suitable  opportunity,  to  carry  that 
post  by  a  nocturnal  assault.  On  his  approach,  the  country  was  laid 
waste  with  fire  by  the  enemy ;  but  he  drew  his  supplies  from  South 
Carolina,  and  at  the  head  of  a  force  equal  only  to  half  that  opposed 
to  him,  he  pursued  his  operations  with  vigor.  He  defeated  Colonel 
Brown,  who  had  been  sent  out  to  protect  a  party  of  Indians,  on  their 
way  to  Savannah,  for  the  purposes  of  trade.  About  a  month  aftei 
the  defeat  of  Brown,  the  party  it  had  been  his  object  to  protect, 
reached  the  neighborhood  of  WAYNE  unperceived,  and  their  leader, 
Guristersigo,  a  chief  of  renown,  had  obtained  information  of  the  station 
of  an  American  picket,  directly  on  his  route  to  Savannah  :  through 
this  picket  he  determined  to  force  his  way  ;  but  when  he  made  the 
attempt,  he  found  the  main  body,  with  the  General,  at  the  post :  and, 
although  he  succeeded  in  silently  killing  the  sentinel,  and  falling 
upon  the  rear  by  surprise,  about  two  hours  before  day,  he  was  killed 
in  the  conflict,  and  his  party  scattered  in  every  direction.  The  pro 
tection  afforded  by  the  force  under  General  WAYNE,  enabled  the 
governor  and  council  again  to  establish  civil  authority  in  Georgia ; 
and,  in  a  short  time,  Savannah,  the  last  hold  of  the  British  power  in 
that  state,  was  evacuated.  At  this  time,  General  Greene  was 
approaching  Charleston,  and  WAYNE  proceeded  to  join  him;  and 
when  the  British  force  retired,  he  entered  the  town,  at  the  head  of  the 
light  troops. 

On  the  return  of  peace,  he  retired  to  private  life.  In  1789,  he  was 
a  member  of  the  Pennsylvania  convention,  and  was  an  advocate  for 
the  present  constitution  of  the  United  States. 

In  1792,  he  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  army  engaged 
against  the  Indians,  on  the  north-western  frontier. 

The  Indians,  on  that  border,  excited  by  the  tories  and  British  agents, 
resident  among  them,  had  for  a  long  time  evinced  their  hostility  to 
the  American  government.  To  repress  and  punish  these  hostilities, 
several  expeditions  had  been  made  into  their  country ;  but  these 
had  failed ;  and  from  their  failure,  the  Indians  derived  new  strength 
and  confidence.  Harmar  had  retreated  from  their  country  beaten, 
and  with  disgrace  ;  and  St.  Clair  had  been  routed  with  terrific 
slaughter.  Success,  of  course,  gave  new  hope  and  boldness  to  the 
savages ;  and,  it  was  feared,  that  it  would  excite  other  tribes  to  join 
their  alliance,  and  produce  a  general  confederation  among  them. 
They  had  rejected,  with  disdain,  every  overture  to  accommodation  ; 
and  two  brave  and  meritorious  officers,  Colonel  Harden  and  Major 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

Freeman,  whilst  bearing  a  scheme  of  pacification  to  them,  had  been 
barbarously  murdered.  Under  these  circumstances,  when  the  com 
mand  of  the  army  destined  for  the  new  expedition  was  of  such 
importance,  General  Washington  evinced  his  confidence  in  WAYNE, 
by  nominating  him  to  it.  The  service  was  accounted  so  dangerous, 
and  there  was  so  little  inducement  to  enlist,  that  the  recruiting  of 
troops  proceeded  but  slowly.  Under  these  circumstances,  it  was 
thought  that  the  meditated  expedition  could  not  prudently  be  under 
taken  in  the  course  of  that  year.  The  Indians,  too,  evinced  a  greater 
willingness  to  treat ;  and,  through  the  intervention  of  the  Six  Nations, 
the  savages  of  the  Miami  and  the  Wabash,  consented  to  hold  a 
conference  with  the  American  commissioners  in  the  ensuing  spring, 
that  of  1793.  In  the  mean  time,  the  preparations  for  war  went  on : 
the  army  was  cantoned  on  the  Ohio  for  the  winter ;  the  new  levies 
were  disciplined,  and  the  recruiting  continually  urged.  In  the  spring, 
the  American  commissioners  proceeded  to  Niagara ;  but  the  Indians 
did  not  meet  them  until  July.  Their  demands  were  then  so  exorbi 
tant,  as  to  be  utterly  inadmissible  by  the  United  States.  The  nego 
tiations  had,  however,  been  protracted  until  September ;  and  when 
the  savages  announced  their  rejection  of  the  terms  proposed  by  the 
commissioners,  the  season  was  too  far  advanced  to  make  any  decisive 
movements.  WAYNE  deferred  all  hostile  operations  until  the  ensuing 
spring,  but  he  advanced,  and  took  possession  of  the  ground  on  which 
the  Americans  had  been  defeated  in  1791,  and  built  a  fort  there,  which 
he  called  Fort  Recovery.  By  taking  this  position  he  was  enabled  to 
protect,  more  effectually,  the  frontiers  of  the  union,  while  the  army 
remained  within  striking  distance  of  the  principal  settlements  of  the 
enemy. 

In  the  next  year,  active  preparations  were  made  for  bringing  the 
war  to  a  conclusion  ;  but  the  difficulty  of  procuring  supplies  retarded 
the  opening  of  the  campaign  until  near  midsummer  ;  and  it  was  not 
until  the  8th  of  August  that  the  army  arrived  at  the  junction  of  the 
river  Au  Glaize  with  the  Miami  of  the  Lakes.  Here,  WAYNE  halted 
a  few  days,  for  the  purpose  of  throwing  up  some  works  for  the  pro 
tection  of  his  baggage.  About  forty  miles  distant,  the  British  occupied 
a  post ;  and  it  was  in  the  vicinity  of  this  post  that  the  hostile  Indians 
were  assembled.  According  to  information  on  which  he  relied. 
WAYNE  calculated  their  numbers  to  amount  to  about  two  thousand 
men.  To  this,  his  own  force  was  superior ;  the  continental  legion 
alone  being  nearly  equal  in  numbers  to  the  Indians :  besides  which, 
lie  had  under  his  command  about  eleven  hundred  Kentucky  militia. 


ANTHONY  WAYNE. 

Though  confident  of  victory,  with  a  humane  and  generous  policy, 
ne  determined  to  make  one  more  effort  to  obtain  peace  without  the 
effusion  of  blood.  He  invited  the  Indians  to  appoint  deputies  to  meet 
him  on  his  march,  in  order  to  negotiate  a  treaty :  he  exhorted  them 
to  be  no  longer  deceived  by  the  counsel  of  those  who  had  neither 
power  nor  inclination  to  protect  them  ;  and  he  urged  them  to  accede 
to  his  present  proposition,  as  the  only  means  of  preserving  themselves 
and  their  families  from  famine. 

On  the  15th,  the  army  advanced,  by  slow  and  cautious  marches, 
down  the  Miami :  one  brigade  of  mounted  volunteers,  commanded 
by  Brigadier  General  Todd,  on  the  left ;  the  other,  by  Brigadier 
General  Barber,  in  the  rear.  A  select  battalion  of  mounted  volunteers, 
commanded  by  Major  Price,  moved  in  front  of  the  legion,  to  prevent 
surprise,  the  Indians  having  returned  an  evasive  answer  to  the 
proposition  of  a  treaty,  and  General  WAYNE  not  knowing  which  to 
expect,  peace  or  war.  After  advancing  about  five  miles,  the  corps 
under  Major  Price  received  a  heavy  fire  from  the  enemy,  concealed 
among  the  woods  and  high  grass,  and  fell  back  upon  the  main  body. 

The  Indians  had  chosen  a  position  very  favorable  to  their  mode 
of  warfare.  A  great  quantity  of  fallen  timber,  which  seemed  to  have 
been  blown  down  by  a  tornado,  rendered  the  wood  in  front  of  the 
British  fort  almost  inaccessible  to  cavalry ;  and,  in  this  wood,  they 
had  formed  their  army  in  three  lines,  according  to  their  custom,  with 
a  very  extended  front,  stretching  nearly  two  miles  at  right  angles 
with  the  river.  Judging  from  the  extent  of  their  lines,  and  the 
heaviness  of  their  fire,  that  the  enemy  was  in  full  force  in  front,  and 
endeavoring  to  turn  his  left  flank,  WAYNE  ordered  the  second  line  to 
advance  to  the  support  of  the  first,  at  the  same  time  the  first  line  was 
ordered  to  advance  and  charge,  and  "  to  rouse  the  Indians  at  the  point 
of  the  bayonet,  and  when  up,  to  deliver  a  close  and  well  directed  fire 
upon  their  backs,  followed  by  a  brisk  charge,  so  as  not  to  give  them 
time  to  load  again,  nor  to  form  their  lines." 

Colonel  Campbell,  with  the  legionary  cavalry,  was  also  ordered  tc 
turn  their  left  flank,  next  to  the  river,  where  the  ground  was  more 
favorable  for  horse  to  act  on ;  and  General  Scott,  with  the  mounted 
volunteers,  was  directed  to  perform  the  same  service  on  their  right 
These  orders  were  obeyed  with  spirit  and  promptness.  "  But  such," 
says  the  General,  in  his  despatch,  "  was  the  intrepidity  of  the  charge 
by  the  first  line  of  infantry,  that  the  Indians,  and  Canadian  militia, 
and  volunteers,  were  driven  from  all  their  coverts  in  so  short  a  time, 
that,  although  every  possible  exertion  was  used  by  the  officers  of  the 

7  Vol.  I.-E 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

second  line  of  the  legion,  and  by  Generals  Scott,  Wood,  and  Barber, 
of  the  mounted  volunteers,  to  gain  their  proper  positions,  but  part  of 
each  could  get  up  in  time  to  participate  in  the  action,  the  enemy 
being  driven  in  the  course  of  one  hour  more  than  two  miles,  through 
the  thick  woods  already  mentioned,  by  less  than  one  half  of  their 
number."  The  troops  actually  engaged  on  the  part  of  the  Americans, 
did  not  amount  to  nine  hundred  men.  The  Americans,  in  this  action, 
lost  thirty-three  men  killed,  and  one  hundred  wounded.  The  loss 
of  the  enemy  could  not  be  exactly  ascertained.  WAYNE  remained 
for  three  days  on  the  banks  of  the  Miami,  during  which  time  all  the 
houses  and  corn-fields,  for  a  considerable  distance,  above  and  below 
the  field  of  battle,  were  destroyed :  among  them,  were  the  property 
and  stores  of  M'Kee,  the  British  Indian  agent,  and  a  principal  insti 
gator  of  the  war.  During  these  operations,  a  correspondence  took 
place  between  General  WAYNE,  and  Colonel  Campbell,  the  com 
mander  of  the  British  garrison ;  and  the  latter  prevented  hostilities 
only  by  permitting  the  destruction  of  property  within  reach  of  the 
guns  of  the  fort.  On  the  27th,  the  army  returned  to  head  quarters. 

The  hostilities  of  the  Indians  still  continuing,  forts  were  established 
in  the  midst  of  their  settlements,  to  prevent  their  return.  These 
measures  proved  successful.  The  hopes  of  the  savages  were  crushed 
their  resources  exhausted,  and  their  brethren,  who  had  shown  symp 
toms  of  a  dangerous  temper,  prevented  from  taking  part  with  them. 
On  the  3d  of  August,  1795,  a  definitive  treaty,  on  terms  satisfactory 
to  the  American  government,  was  concluded  with  them,  by  General 
WAYNE.  The  next  year  saw  the  termination  of  his  useful  and 
honorable  life.  He  died  in  December,  1796,  in  a  hut  at  Presque  Isle, 
while  engaged  in  the  service  of  his  country.  His  remains  were 
buried  upon  the  shores  of  Lake  Erie ;  but,  in  1809,  they  were 
removed  to  his  native  county,  by  his  son,  Isaac  Wayne,  Esq. 

General  WAYNE  was  possessed  of  a  commanding  presence,  pleasing 
address,  and  daring  bravery.  He  was  excellent  in  discipline,  unri 
valled  in  enterprise,  and  was  always  held  in  high  respect  by  his 
companions  in  arms. 

The  state  of  Georgia  testified  their  gratitude  to  him  by  the  present 
of  an  estate,  immediately  in  the  neighborhood  of  one  given  to  his 
friend  General  Greene.  The  Cincinnati  society  have  erected  a 
monument  to  his  memory,  in  the  cemetery  of  St.  David's  church, 
near  t*ie  place  of  his  birth. 


TI  MACDONC  II. 


gallant  officer  was  born  in  tl 

; aware,  in  December,  1783.     }* 

(1  with  a  love  of  liberty,  he  entered 

aajor;  he  did  not,  however,  remain  1« 
rued  to  private   life  and   his  professional 
ttaae  of  the  war,  when  he  was  made   a  judge;    ii: 
h-»   remained   until    his    death,  which    happened    in    1795.      M<? 
J«Mt  three  sons      His  eldest  son,  James,  was  a  midship 
'  'ommodore    Truxton    when    he    took    the    Insurgent.       In    that 
tattle  he  was  so  severely  wounded,  that  there  was  a  necessity  of 
'fnputating  his  leg.     He  soon  afterwards  left  the  navy,  with  the 
•reputation  of  a  brave  officer.     In  1798,  the  subject  of  this  memoir 
:-*blained  a  warrai-  id  commenced  hi-- 

t  n.'iviii   otfwr. 
*f»okt!  <>< 

wise,  but  -  jown  to  the  public 

until  the  count  :ug  tht-  frigate  Philadelphia. 

When  the   ga!  .   hum   her,  as  she  lay  in 

|MMMBsion  of  t  ,\\    as  one 

viMjug  officers  to 
s^nt  he  reaped  an  *• 
••'•.»  leader  and  others.     r\\ 
-t  more  naval  reputations  than  ail  th»  m\ 

*  was  there,  too,  that  our  infant  nav 

:  ••<>rai)d  good  conduct  which  were  of  ir  s,  and 

•^-re  hailed  as  presages  of  future  glories  for  our  country.     When 

*?  u:  DONOUGH  was  first  lieutenant  of  the  Siren,  under  command  of 

plain  Smith,  a  circumstance  occurred  in  the  harbor  of  Gibralter 

••ficiently  indicative  of  the  fir-'  -i  of  his  character. 

*  American   merchant    brig1   emur-   t>   si»«ViK>f   near  the    United 
**.-;res  vessel.      MACDONOUGH,   in    M»»?  Captain   Smith, 

had  gone  on  shore,  saw  nsh  frigate  board  the 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

brig  and  take  from  her  a  man  ;  he  instantly  manned  and  armed  his 
gig,  and  pursued  the  British  boat,  which  he  overtook,  just  as  it 
reached  the  frigate,  and  without  ceremony  took  the  impressed  man 
into  his  own  boat.  The  frigate's  boat  was  twice  the  force  of  his  own; 
but  the  act  was  so  bold  as  to  astound  the  lieutenant  who  commanded 
the  press-gang,  and  no  resistance  was  offered.  When  the  affair  was 
made  known  to  the  British  captain  he  came  on  board  of  the  Siren  in 
a  great  rage,  and  inquired  how  he  dared  to  take  a  man  from  his  boat. 
MACDONOUGH  replied  that  the  man  was  an  American  seaman,  and 
was  under  the  protection  of  the  flag  of  the  United  States,  and  that  it 
was  his  duty  to  protect  him.  The  captain,  with  a  volley  of  oaths, 
swore  he  would  bring  his  frigate  along  side  the  Siren  and  sink  her. 
"This  you  may  do,"  said  MACDONOUGH  ;  -'but  while  she  swims  the 
man  you  will  not  have/'  The  English  captain  told  MACDONOUGH 
that  he  was  a  young  hair-brained  fellow,  and  would  repent  of  his 
rashness.  "  Supposing,  sir,"  said  he,  "  I  had  been  in  that  boat,  would 
you  have  dared  to  have  committed  such  an  act?"  "I  should  have 
made  the  attempt,  sir,  at  all  hazards,"  was  the  reply.  "  What,  sir!" 
said  the  English  captain,  "  would  you  venture  to  interfere  if  I  were 
to  impress  men  from  that  brig?"  "You  have  only  to  try  it,  sir,"  was 
the  pithy  answer.  The  English  officer  returned  to  his  ship,  manned 
his  boat  and  made  his  way  towards  the  brig;  MACDONOUGH  did  the 
same;  but  there  the  affair  ended,  —  the  English  boat  took  a  circuitous 
route  and  returned  to  the  ship.  There  was  such  a  calmness  in  the 
conduct  of  Lieutenant  MACDONOUGH,  such  a  solemnity  in  his  lan 
guage,  such  a  politeness  in  his  manner,  that  the  British  officer  saw 
that  he  had  to  deal  with  no  ordinary  man — and  that  it  was  not 
prudent  to  put  him  on  his  mettle. 

In  that  garden  of  the  world,  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean 
where  nations  have  grown  up  and  decayed,  and  others  have  taken 
their  places  ;  where  every  thing  is  marked  with  age.  luxury,  crime, 
and  temptation,  and  where  many  a  fine  young1  officer  has  made  ship 
wreck  of  his  morals  and  his  health  ;  MACDONOUGH  exhibited  the 
Spartan  firmness  with  the  Christian  virtues.  His  bravery  was  never 
for  a  moment  doubted,  but  he  was  so  reserved,  temperate,  and  cir- 
cumspect;  that  the  envious,  sometimes,  strove  to  bring  him  to  their 
level,  and  often  were  snares  set  for  him ;  but  he  was  never  caught 
His  character  was  fair  and  bright  as  the  surface  of  a  steel  mirror, 
before  it  was  brought  to  reflect  any  ray  of  glory  upon  himself  and 

his  country. 

There  is  a  good  share  of  sagacity  in  the  common  sailor ;  he  sees 


THOMAS  MACDONOUGH. 

through  a  character  much  clearer  than  we  generally  think  he  dons ; 
before  MACDONOUGH  had  been  promoted  to  a  lieutenancy,  he  had  the 
heart  of  every  sailor  who  knew  him.  There  are  few  so  ignorant  that 
they  cannot  discover  moral  worth,  when  connected  with  professional 
ability  ;  and  none  so  bad,  as  not  to  approve  of  it. 

It  has  often  been  stated,  and  never  questioned,  that  while  in  Syra 
cuse,  MACDONOUGH  was  one  night  attacked  by  three  assassins,  with 
daggers.  He  drew  his  sword,  and  wounded  two  of  them  so  severely 
as  to  fear  nothing  further  from  them,  the  other  fled,  but  he 
pursued  him  to  the  roof  of  a  building,  and  climbing  it  after  the 
assassin,  would  have  caught  him,  if  he  had  not  thrown  himself  from 
it,  with  the  loss  of  his  existence.  In  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  MAC 
DONOUGH  suffered  much  from  ill-health ;  but  at  this  time  he  was  one 
of  the  most  active  and  athletic  officers  of  the  navy,  and  was  dexterous 
in  the  use  of  his  sword. 

Not  many  of  the  ships  of  the  American  navy  were  in  commission 
from  the  close  of  the  Tripolitan  war,  until  the  war  of  1812.  Those 
few  which  visited  the  maritime  places  in  Europe,  South  America,  or 
the  West  Indies,  were  viewed  with  no  ordinary  curiosity,  and  even 
thought,  by  some,  to  have  a  respectable  appearance ;  but  there  was 
not  the  slightest  suspicion  that  we  were  so  soon  to  take  rank  among 
those  nations  who  boast  of  naval  exploits.  But  after  the  declaration 
of  war  with  England,  our  navy  was  put  into  requisition,  and  every 
officer  panted  for  distinction.  The  elder  officers  were  mostly 
sent  on  the  ocean ;  some  of  the  high  spirited  juniors  to  the  lakes,— 
among  the  latter,  Lieutenant  MACDONOUGH  was  ordered  to  Lake 
Champlain.  This  was  an  important  station,  for  through  this  lake  a 
communication  could  most  readily  be  had  with  the  most  powerful 
portion  of  the  Canadas.  The  main  armies  of  the  British  were 
always  to  be  near  Montreal  and  Quebec,  but  for  the  first  two  years 
of  the  war,  both  sides  were  busy  in  another  direction,  particularly  on 
the  Lakes  Ontario  and  Erie.  The  contending  powers  watched 
each  other's  movements  and  kept  nearly  pari  passu  in  the  augmentation 
of  their  naval  forces;  the  English  always  in  the  advance,  having 
in  many  respects,  greater  facilities;  if  not  in  shipbuilding,  certainly  in 
procuring'  munitions  of  war,  sails,  rigging,  &c. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  summer  of  1814,  the  warlike  preparations 
on  Lake  Champlain,  and  its  vicinity,  seemed  to  portend  some  power 
ful  shock.  Large  bodies  of  troops,  the  veterans  of  Wellington's  army, 
lo  the  amount,  it  was  said,  of  sixteen  thousand,  had  arrived  ;n 
Canada,  and  were  preparing  to  strike  a  severe  blow  on  the  frontiers 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

one  thai  would  be  felt  to  the  very  vitals  of  the  nation.  Izard  received 
orders  to  assist  Brown,  and  Macomb  was  left  with  a  handful  of 
troops  at  Plattsbnrgh.  He  put  himself  into  the  best  attitude  of  defence 
a  brave  and  intelligent  officer  could,  and  called  on  the  neighboring 
militia  to  come  to  his  aid  ;  meanwhile  the  fleet  under  MACDONOUGH 
was  put  in  readiness  for  an  attack.  He  had  only  four  ships,  such  as 
they  were;  the  Saratoga,  twenty-six  guns;  the  Eagle,  twenty  guns; 
the  Ticonderoga,  seventeen  guns,  the  Preble,  seven  guns ;  and  ten 
gallies,  carrying  sixteen  —  in  the  whole  eighty-six  guns.  The  British 
force  was  larger :  the  frigate  Confiance,  thirty-nine  guns  ;  the  Linnet, 
sixteen  guns  ;  the  Chubb,  eleven  guns  ;  the  Finch,  eleven  guns  ;  and 
thirteen  gallies,  carrying  eighteen  guns — making  a  total  of  ninety- 
five  guns ;  a  superiority  over  the  American  fleet  of  nine  guns ;  their 
complement  of  men  was  much  greater.  That  the  American  fleet 
was  commanded  by  a  young  officer  who  ranked  only  as  lieutenant, 
and  the  British  by  an  experienced  one,  Captain  Downie,  gave  Sir 
George  Prevost  no  doubt  of  the  issue  of  his  naval  operations.  On  the 
land,  too,  with  his  veterans  and  other  troops,  he  was  quite  certain  of  a 
signal  victory. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  10th  of  September,  it  was  evident  that  the 
assault  on  the  lake  and  on  the  land  was  to  be  made  the  next  day,  and 
MACDONOUGH  deemed  it  best  to  await  the  attack  at  anchor.  At  eight 
o'clock,  on  the  morning  of  the  llth,  the  British  fleet  was  seen 
approaching,  and  in  an  hour  the  battle  became  general.  The  most 
accurate  description  of  it  must  be  from  his  own  pen. 

"At  nine,"  says  the  captain,  "the  enemy  anchored  in  a  line 
ahead,  at  about  three  hundred  yards  distant  from  my  line ;  his  ship 
opposed  to  the  Saratoga;  his  brig  to  the  Eagle,  Captain  Robert  Henley; 
his  gallies,  thirteen  in  number,  to  the  schooner,  sloop,  and  a  division 
of  our  gallies ;  one  of  his  sloops  assisting  their  ship  and  brig ;  the 
other  assisting  their  gallies  :  our  remaining  gailies  were  with  the 
Saratoga  and  Eagle. 

"In  this  situation,  the  whole  force  on  both  sides  became  engaged; 
the  Saratoga  suffering  much  from  the  heavy  fire  of  the  Confiance.  I 
could  perceive  at  the  same  time,  however,  that  our  fire  was  very 
destructive  to  her.  The  Ticonderoga,  Lieutenant  Commandant 
Cassin,  gallantly  sustained  her  full  share  of  the  action.  At  half  past 
ten,  the  Eagle,  not  being  able  to  bring  her  guns  to  bear,  cut  her  cable, 
and  anchored  in  a  more  eligible  position,  between  my  ship  and  the 
Ticonderoga,  where  she  very  much  annoyed  the  enemy,  but  unfortu 
aately  leaving  me  much  exposed  to  a  galling  fire  from  the  enemy's  brio. 


THOMAS  MACDONOUGH. 

"Our  guns  on  the  starboard  side  being  nearly  all  dismounted,  or 
unmanageable,  a  stern  anchor  was  let  go,  the  lower  cable  cut,  and 
the  ship  winded  with  a  fresh  broadside  on  the  enemy's  ship,  which 
soon  after  surrendered.  Our  broadside,  was  then  sprung  to  bear  on 
the  brig,  which  surrendered  about  fifteen  minutes  afterwards.  The 
sloop  which  was  opposed  to  the  Eagle,  had  struck  some  time  before, 
and  drifted  down  the  line.  The  sloop  that  was  with  their  gallies  had 
also  struck.  Three  of  their  gallies  are  said  to  be  sunk ;  the  others 
pulled  off.  Our  gallies  were  about  obeying  with  alacrity  the  signal 
to  follow  them,  when  all  the  vessels  were  reported  to  me  to  be  in  a 
sinking  state.  It  then  became  necessary  to  annul  the  signal  to  the 
gallies,  and  order  their  men  to  the  pumps.  I  could  only  look  at  the 
enemy's  gallies  going  off  in  a  shattered  condition,  for  there  was  not  a 
mast  in  either  squadron  that  could  stand  to  make  sail  on.  The 
lower  rigging  being  nearly  shot  away,  hung1  down  as  though  it  had 
just  been  placed  over  the  mast  heads. 

"The  Saratoga  had  fifty-five  round  shot  in  her  hull ;  the  Confiance 
one  hundred  and  five.  The  enemy's  shot  passed  principally  just 
over  our  heads,  as  there  were  not  twenty  whole  hammocks  in  the 
nettings,  at  the  close  of  the  action,  which  lasted  without  intermission 
two  hours  and  twenty  minutes. 

"  The  absence  and  sickness  of  Lieutenant  Raymond  Perry  left  me 
without  the  assistance  of  that  excellent  officer.  Much  ought  fairly  to 
be  attributed  to  him  for  his  great  care  and  attention  in  disciplining 
the  ship's  crew,  as  her  first  lieutenant.  His  place  was  filled  by  a 
gallant  young  officer,  Lieutenant  Peter  Gamble ;  who,  I  regret  to 
inform  you,  was  killed  early  in  the  action." 

The  Saratoga  was  twice  set  on  fire  during  the  action,  by  hot  shot 
from  the  Confiance  ;  but  the  flames  were  promptly  extinguished. 

At  the  same  time  the  land  forces  were  engaged ;  both  armies  look 
ing  on  the  sea-fight  as  in  a  measure  the  turning  point  with  them. 
The  loss  of  fhe  Americans  was  fifty-two  killed,  and  fifty-eight 
wounded,  that  of  the  British,  eighty-four  killed,  and  one  hundred  and 
ten  wounded.  The  prisoners  taken  exceeded  the  whole  number  of 
Americans  in  the  action.  Sir  George  and  his  army  were  the  next  day 
on  the  retreat.  This  victory  was  hailed  by  the  whole  nation  with  great 
joy.  The  state  of  New  York,  in  justice  and  gratitude,  gave  the  gallant 
commodore  a  thousand  acres  of  land,  of  no  small  value,  and  the  state 
of  Vermont  made  a  grant  of  two  hundred  acres,  within  a  short 
distance  of  the  battle  ground ;  this  is  a  delightful  spot,  and  may  be 
seen  from  the  distant  hills  very  distinctly,  and  from  the  manor  you  have 

5  Nl 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

a  tine  view  of  the  lake,  particularly  that  part  of  it  where  ihe  Ameri 
can  fleet  was  anchored.     While  rambling  over  these  grounds  one 
cannot  help  thinking  of  the  lines  of  the  bard  of  Newstead  Abbey, 


"  The  mountains  look  on  Marathon, 
And  Marathon  looks  on  the  sea." 


Both  scenes  awaken  visions  of  national  glory;  hut  our  view,  as  yet. 
affords  no  painful  contrasts,  except,  when  we  ask  where  is  he  who 
fought  and  conquered  here?  The  city  of  New  York  gave  MAO 
DONOUGH  a  valuable  lot  of  land,  and  the  city  of  Albany  followed  the 
example.  Festive  honors  were  offered  him  in  all  places  he  chanced 
to  pass  through,  but  they  were  not  often  accepted.  He  loved  fame, 
but  not  her  obstreperous  notes.  For  this  victory  he  was  promoted 
to  the  rank  of  post  captain. 

From  the  close  of  the  war  to  the  time  of  his  decease,  he  shared  the 
honors  of  the  home  and  foreign  service  with  his  compeers.  He  was 
an  excellent  member  of  courts-martial,  for  he  brought  to  those  tribu 
nals  a  candid  mind,  ever  ready  to  find  matters  that  made  in  favor  of 
the  accused  as  well  as  against  him.  We  have  an  opportunity  of 
speaking  from  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  fact,  that  on  several 
courts-martial,  the  accused  have  congratulated  themselves,  that  all 
that  was  brought  against  them  was  to  be  considered  by  such  a  mind 
as  MACDONOUGH'S  ;  at  the  same  time,  they  were  not  wanting  injustice 
r.o  other  honorable  members. 

For  several  years  before  his  death  he  made  his  home  in  Middletown, 
Connecticut,  where  he  had  married  Miss  Shaler,  a  lady  of  a  highly 
respectable  family  in  that  place.  He  died  of  a  consumption,  on  the 
tenth  day  of  November,  1825.  His  wife  had  paid  the  debt  of  nature 
a  few  months  before  him. 

In  person,  MACDONOUGH  was  tall,  dignified,  and  commanding. 
His  features  were  pleasing ;  his  complexion,  hair,  and  eyes  were  light ; 
but  there  was  such  a  firmness  and  steadfastness  in  his  look  as  to  take 
away  all  appearance  of  the  want  of  masculine  energy,  which  is  often 
attached  to  the  idea  of  a  delicate  complexion.  The  great  charm  of  his 
character  was  the  refinement  of  his  taste,  the  purity  of  his  principles, 
and  the  sincerity  of  his  religion  ;  these  give  a  perfume  to  his  name, 
which  the  partial  page  of  history  seldom  can  retain  for  departed 
warriors,  however  brilliant  their  deeds. 


THE  subject  of  tl  uoir  w, 

man  of  Scott:  tg  ago  s 

where  he  -  ol  a  inerch. 

esteem  ot  unblemished 

moral  worth.  -WASHINGTON  was  horn  April 
life  the  i  d,  for  which  he  ) 

tinguislied,  began  to  develops  tht-msrK 
already  become  emim  their  fi 

j 


meditat 
occasioi 


Tin 

place  of 

the  freedom  and  ease  oi 
ing  refinements  of  an  increash/  :«. 
of  its  port  made  weak! 
natives  of  other  parts  of  our  W/M 
and  compete  for  A  sha: 
the  community,  seeing  their  i*t*y 
ing  why,  had  not  yet  perueur{4 
to  habits  of  early  labrtr  an< 
that  characterized  one  era  n 
not  yet  made  its  appearance ;  n 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

steels  the  heart  against  all  but  selfish  feelings,  been  awakened.  ,That 
system  of  instruction,  which  confines  children  for  six  hours  a  day  in 
almost  listless  inactivity  in  a  school  room,  and  then  dismisses  them, 
to  pursue  their  labors  unassisted  for  even  a  longer  time,  was  not  yet 
invented.  Schoolmasters  yet  thought  it  their  duty  to  instruct ;  and 
when  their  unruly  subjects  were  emancipated  from  direct  control,  they 
had  no  other  thought  but  to  spend  the  rest  of  the  day  in  active  sport, 
and  the  night  in  slumbers,  undisturbed  by  the  dread  of  the  morrow's 
task. 

For  the  enjoyment  of  these  vacant  hours,  the  vicinity  of  New  York 
then  offered  the  most  inviting  opportunities.  A  few  minutes'  walk 
brought  the  youth  of  the  city  into  open  and  extensive  pastures,  diver 
sified  by  wood  and  sheets  of  transparent  water ;  on  either  hand  flowed 
noble  rivers,  whose  quiet  waters  invited  even  the  most  timid  to  acquire 
"the  noblest  exercise  of  strength;"  when  winter  made  such  recreations 
impracticable,  sheets  of  smooth  and  glittering  ice  spread  themselves 
out  to  tempt  the  skater,  and  the  youth  of  the  Manhattoes  rivalled,  if 
not  excelled,  the  glories  of  their  Dutch  father-land,  in  the  speed  and 
activity  with  which  they  glided  over  the  glassy  surface. 

It  may  be  the  partial  recollection  of  our  infancy,  but  it  is  not  less 
the  firm  conviction  of  our  minds,  that  in  all  our  wanderings,  we  have 
seen  no  city,  with  the  exception  of  the  "  Queen  of  the  North,"  whose 
environs  possessed  natural  beauties  equal  to  those  of  New  York. 
These  beauties  have  now  vanished — paved  streets  and  piles  of  tasteless 
brick  have  covered  the  grassy  slopes  and  verdant  meadows ;  the  lofty 
hills  have  been  applied  to  the  ignoble  purpose  of  filling  up  the  neigh 
boring  lakes.  Nor  should  we  complain  of  these  changes,  but  consider 
the  prosperity,  of  which  they  are  an  evidence,  as  more  than  equivalent 
to  the  destruction  of  wild  and  rural  beauty,  in  those  places  where  a 
crowded  population  has  actually  found  its  abode ;  but  we  cannot 
tolerate  that  barbarism  which  makes  beauty  consist  in  straight  lines 
and  right  angles,  cuts  our  whole  island  into  oblong  squares,  and  con 
siders,  that  to  convert  the  fertile  surface  into  a  barren  and  sandy  waste, 
is  the  only  fit  preparation  for  an  increasing  city.  The  blossomed 
orchards  of  Bayard  and  Delancey  have  given  place  to  snug  brick 
houses,  the  sylvan  deities  have  fled  the  groves  of  Peter's  field  and 
Rose  hill,  and  we  can  rejoice  ;  but  why  should  the  flowery  vales  of 
Bloomendahl  be  cut  up  bystreets  and  avenues?  Nor  has  the  spirit 
of  devastation  stopped  here,  but  has  invaded  the  whole  neighborhood, 
until  the  antres  and  cliffs  of  Hoboken  have  given  place  to  a  rail 
ed. 

2 


WASHINGTON  IRVING. 

The  early  fancies  of  Mr.  IRVING  were  deeply  impressed  with  the 
beauty  of  the  natural  scenery  of  the  island  of  Manhattan.  These  im 
pressions  have  given  birth  to  many  and  choice  passages  in  his  various 
works.  But,  aware  that  such  romantic  fancies  might  come  with  an 
ill  grace  from  one  hackneyed  in  the  ways  of  our  commercial  and 
prosaic  city,  he  has  given  being  to  a  personage,  in  whose  mouth  they 
become  the  utterance  of  patriotic  virtue. 

New  York,  at  that  time,  presented  the  singular  spectacle  of  races 
distinct  in  origin,  character  and  temper,  struggling,  as  it  were,  for 
ascendancy  ;  and  although  the  struggle  finally  terminated  happily,  in 
the  utter  confusion  of  all  such  distinctions,  and  the  formation  of  a 
single  civic  character,  it  was  not  the  less  apparent.  Wasted,  too,  as 
was  the  anger  and  anxiety  the  struggle  occasioned  upon  the  most 
petty  objects,  it  presented,  to  a  mind  highly  sensible  to  the  ludicrous, 
most  amusing  matter  of  contemplation.  First  and  most  marked,  were 
to  be  seen  the  descendants  of  the  original  settlers  from  Holland,  retain 
ing,  in  their  own  separate  intercourse,  the  language  and  habits  of 
their  ancestors,  indulging  the  hereditary  grudge  of  a  conquered  people 
to  its  subduers,  although  moderated  and  tempered  by  native  kindness 
and  good  nature.  Next  was  -to  be  remarked  the  New  Englander,  dis 
tinguished  by  his  intelligence  and  activity,  and  just  beginning  to  entei 
into  that  rivalry  wTith  the  Bavarian,  that  has  ended  in  a  disappearance, 
almost  total,  of  patronymic  names  of  the  latter  from  the  streets  in 
which  business  is  transacted.  Before  the  superior  energy  and  restless 
enterprise  of  this  race,  the  Dutch  \vere  beginning  to  quail,  and  retali 
ated  for  the  loss  of  business,  to  which  they  were  exposed,  by  outward 
expressions  of  contempt,  and  inward  feelings  of  dread  and  apprehension. 
Last,  and  least  numerous,  but  at  the  time  most  distinguished  for  wealth 
and  mercantile  influence,  was  to  be  seen  a  clan  of  Scots.  These  were 
shrewd,  calculating,  and  enterprising;  but  mixed  with  their  habits  of 
business  and  economy  much  hospitality,  and  unchecked,  but  harm 
less  convivialitv.  Accustomed  from  his  infancy  to  the  contemplation 
of  the  character  of  this  race  in  his  father  and  his  associates,  its  peculi 
arities  have  not  struck  him  as  an  object  for  delineation,  or  filial 
reverence  has  forbidden  him  to  attempt  it.  Its  habits  and  manners 
have,  however,  evidently  served  to  bring  out  in  higher  relief  the 
peculiarities  of  the  other  races. 

Mr.  IRVING  had  hardly  reached  the  age  of  manhood  when  he  ap 
peared  to  be  threatened  with  a  pulmonary  affection,  as  a  preventive 
of  which,  it  was  considered  expedient  that  he  should  visit  the  south 

of  Europe.     He  therefore,  in  May,  1804,  embarked   for   Bordeaux, 

3  TI 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

where  he  landed  in  the  following  month.  Here,  however,  he  was  not 
inclined  to  continue,  but  traveled  through  the  south  of  France  to  Nice, 
and  coasted  on  a  felucca  to  Genoa ;  thence  he  went  by  sea  to  Messina 
in  Sicily,  on  an  American  ship,  which  was  boarded  and  partially 
plundered  by  pirates  off  the  island  of  Elba.  From  Messina  he  sailed 
on  the  United  States  schooner  of  war  Nautilus,  to  Syracuse,  passing 
through  the  Straits  at  the  same  time  with  Admiral  Lord  Nelson's  fleet, 
then  in  quest  of  the  French  fleet,  which  had  escaped  from  Toulon. 
Still  intent  on  moving,  he  traveled  by  land  to  Catania,  visited  Mount 
Etna,  crossed  Sicily  by  the  valley  Juna  to  Palermo,  passed  over,  on 
an  orange  boat,  to  Naples.  From  hence  he  traveled  to  Rome,  across 
the  Appenines  to  Loretto,  thence  to  Bologna,  Milan,  and  across  St. 
Gothard  into  Switzerland.  He  then  traversed  the  Lake  of  the  free 
Cantons,  and  visited  Lucerne,  Basle,  &c.  on  his  way  to  Paris.  After 
the  sojourn  of  a  few  months  in  that  city,  he  proceeded  through  Bel 
gium  to  Holland,  and  sailed  from  Rotterdam  to  London,  and  passed 
several  months  in  England,  returning  home  in  the  spring  of  1806, 
after  an  absence  of  two  years,  with  his  health  very  happily  renovated. 

This  voyage,  undertaken  with  far  different  views  from  those  which 
now  usually  direct  the  travels  of  young  Americans,  was  also  wholly 
different  in  its  course,  and  in  the  impressions  it  was  likely  to  produce, 
Instead  of  a  gradual  preparation  for  the  views  of  the  old  world,  by  a 
passage  through  countries  connected  by  ties  of  blood  and  language,  or 
familiar  to  him  in  consequence  of  an  active  and  frequent  commerce,  he 
was  transported,  as  if  in  a  moment,  to  lands  where,  in  direct  contrast  to 
the  continual  strides  his  own  country  is  making,  every  thing  is  torpid, 
and  even  retrograde ;  lands  in  which  the  objects  of  interest  are  rather 
the  glories  of  by-gone  ages,  than  any  thing  that  the  present  era  can 
exhibit.  No  change  of  scene  more  abrupt  can  well  be  imagined,  and 
none  more  likely  to  excite  the  mind  of  youthful  genius.  For  the 
guide  books  and  tours  of  modern  travelers,  that  are  the  usual  manuals 
of  a  tourist,  it  became  necessary  to  substitute  the  writings  of  the  an 
cients.  These  would  be  most  favorably  studied  upon  the  very  spots 
where  they- were  written,  or  of  which  they  treat,  and  even  when  con 
sulted  in  a  mere  translation,  cannot  fail  to  improve  and  refine  the  taste. 
In  the  fine  scenery  of  Calabria,  he  recognized  the  studies  of  Salvator 
Rosa,  and  in  his  progress  through  Italy,  luxuriated  in  the  treasures 
of  ancient  and  modern  art,  then  almost  a  sealed  book  to  his  country 
men. 

Before  his  departure  for  Europe  he  had  made  his  first  literary 
essays,  in  a  newspaper  of  which  his  brother,  Dr.  P.  Irving,  was  editor. 


WASHINGTON  IRVING. 

There  is  little  doubt  that  these  were  not  few  in  number,  but  none  <;an 
now  be  identified,  except  the  series  of  letters  under  the  signature  of 
Jonathan  Oldstyle.  These  were  collected,  as  a  matter  of  bookselling 
speculation,  after  the  literary  reputation  of  their  author  was  established, 
arid  published,  although  without  his  sanction.  His  return  was  speedily 
followed  by  the  appearance  of  the  first  number  of  Salmagundi.  Those 
who  recur  to  this  sprightly  work  at  the  present  day,  cannot  enter  into 
the  feelings  with  which  it  was  received  at  the  epoch  at  which  it  was 
published.  They  will,  indeed,  see  that  it  is  not  unworthy  of  the 
reputation  afterwards  attained  by  those,  who  have  admitted  themselves 
to  have  been  its  authors.  But  the  exact  and  skillful  adaptation  of  its 
delicate  and  witty  allusions  to  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  the  times, 
the  rich  humor  with  which  prevailing  follies  were  held  up  to  ridicule, 
and,  above  all,  the  exquisite  good  nature  of  the  satire,  that  made  it 
almost  an  honor  to  have  been  its  object,  rendered  Salmagundi  the 
most  popular  work  that  had  ever  issued  from  the  American  press. 
Until  it  made  its  appearance,  our  literary  efforts  had  been  almost 
wholly  confined  to  serious  discussions  upon  general  and  local  politics; 
if  a  few  works  of  fancy  had  been  produced,  the  age  was  not  ripe  for 
their  reception,  and,  as  in  the  case  of  Brown,  they  procured  for  their 
authors  no  more  than  a  posthumous  fame.  The  well  founded  belief, 
that  Mr.  IRVING  had  been  the  principal  writer  in  Salmagundi,  placed 
him,  at  once,  first  in  the  list  of  the  living  authors  of  America.  His 
next  literary  production  was  "The  History  of  New  York,  by  Diedrich 
Knickerbocker."  The  idea  of  this  humorous  work  appears  to  have 
been  suggested  to  him  by  the  establishment  of  a  historical  society  in 
New  York,  and  the  announcement,  that  one  of  its  members  was  about 
to  compile  from  its  collections  a  history  of  the  early  periods  of  our 
colonial  existence.  Identifying  himself,  in  imagination,  with  a  de 
scendant  of  the  original  Dutch  settlers,  he  adopted,  in  his  fictitious 
character,  all  the  feelings  and  prejudices  that  might  well  be  supposed 
to  be  inherent  in  that  race,  with  an  air  of  gravity  and  verisimilitude 
that  is  well  calculated  to  mislead  a  reader  not  previously  aware  of  the 
deception.  The  public  was  prepared  for  the  reception  of  the  work  by 
advertisements,  ingeniously  planned  and  worded,  in  which  the  sup 
posed  landlord  of  the  imaginary  author  expressed  his  anxiety  for  the 
safety  of  his  guest,  until  it  might  fairly  have  been  believed  that  the 
veracious  historian  had  actually  disappeared  from  his  lodgings.  So 
perfect  was  the  deception,  that  many  commenced  the  work  in  full 
belief  of  its  being  serious,  and  gravely  toiled  through  many  of  its  pages 
before  the  wit,  and  an  interest  too  intense  to  be  created  by  so  trivial  a 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

subject  as  the  annals  of  a  little  Dutch  borough,  undeceived  them. 

The   author   often  used  to  tell  of  an  aged  and  most  respectable 

clergyman,   who  taking    up  the  work,  without  referring  to  its  title 
page  or  introduction,  read  many  of  its  chapters  in  the  full  belief  that  it 
was  the  production  of  a  clerical  brother,  who  had  promised  a  history 
of  the  same  period,  and  was  only  gradually  aroused  to  a  suspicion  of  his 
mistake,  by  the  continued  variation  of  the  style  from  grave  and  solemn 
irony,  through  lively  wit  and  poignant  humor,  until  it  fairly  bordered 
on  the  ludicrous.     Such  is  the  character  of  this  veracious  history ;  the 
mask  is  worn  at  first  with  the  greatest  gravity,  yet  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  give  effect  to  the  keenest  and  most  poignant  satire,  while  as 
soon  as  it  becomes  impossible  for  the  reader  to  credit  that  it  is  other 
than  a  work  of  fancy,  the  author  gives  full  play  to  his  imagination, 
and  riots  in  an  excess  of  delicate  wit  and  playful  humor.     Yet  are  not 
these  the  sole  merits  of  the  work  :  it  is  occasionally  tender,  and  even 
pathetic ;  often  replete  with  lively  pictures,  wwthy,  when  of  character 
and  costume,  of  the  pencil  of  a  Teniers ;  when  of  scenery,  of  that  of 
Claude.    In  addition,  tLurrtyle  is  the  purest  idiomatic  English  that  had 
been  written  for  many  a  year,  and  carries  us  back  to  the  glories  of  an 
Augustan  age.    It  is  in  marked  contrast,  not  only  with  the  barbarisms 
of  the  American  newspaper  writers  of  his  day,  but  with  the  corruptions 
of  the  pure  fount  that  their  English  critics  are  themselves  guilty  of. 
This  grace  and  purity  of  style  is  also  to  be  remarked  in  all  his  subse 
quent  writings ;  but  his  Knickerbocker  possesses,  in  addition,  more  of 
nerve  and  force  than  they  in  general  do.     Its  language  is  either  that 
in  which  his  thoughts  spontaneously  flowed,  or,  if  elaborated,  exhibits 
that  perfection  of  art  which  hides  the  means  by  which  the  effect  is 
produced.     His  other  works  do  not  always  conceal  the  labor  by  which 
the  polish  has  been  attained,  and  the  very  grace   and   smoothness  of 
the  periods,  sometimes  seems  to  call  for  a  relief  to  the  ear,  like  that 
which  skillful  musicians  sometimes  apply,  in  the  form  of  an  occasional 
discord. 

Were  we,  however,  to  be  asked  where  we  are  to  find  the  prose 
language  of  England  in  its  highest  degree  of  perfection,  we  think  we 
might  safely  point  to  the  works  of  Mr.  IRVING  ;  these  are  composed  in 
a  style  more  correct  than  that  of  Addison,  more  forcible  than  that  of 
Goldsmith,  more  idiomatic  than  that  of  the  writers  of  the  Scottish 
school;  and,  while  it  takes  advantage  of  the  engraftation  of  words  of 
Latin  and  Grecian  origin  upon  the  Anglo-Saxon,  it  is  far  removed  from 
the  learned  affectation  of  Johnson. 


WASHINGTON  IRVING. 

The  hours  in  which  the  papers  of  Salmagundi  were  composed,  and 
the  History  of  the  New  Netherlands  compiled,  were  stolen  from  the 
dry  study  of  the  law.  To  this,  Mr.  IRVING  seemed  for  a  time  to  be 
condemned,  and  in  spite  of  the  gravity  with  which,  as  in  the  case  of 
Murray,  the  heads  of  judges  were  shaken  at  him  as  a  wit,  he  persevered 
in  it,  and  obtained  his  license  to  practice.  It  is  even  said,  that  he 
opened  an  office,  and  that  his  name  was  seen  painted  on  a  sign,  with 
the  adjunct,  "  Attorney  at  Law."  But  it  was  not  predestined  that 
Mr.  IRVING  should  merge  these  grave  doubts  in  the  honors  of  the 
woolsack.  A  client  was  indeed  found  hardy  enough  to  trust  his  cause 
to  the  young  barrister,  but  an  oppressive  feeling  of  diffidence  caused 
him  to  shrink  from  trying  it,  and  it  was  gladly  abandoned  to  a  brother 
lawyer  of  far  less  talent,  but  who  possessed  a  more  happy  degree  of 
confidence  in  his  own  forensic  abilities.  This  diffidence,  literary  success 
afterwards  converted  into  an  innate  and  unaffected  modesty,  which 
added  not  a  little  to  Mr.  IRVINE'S  agreeable  qualities,  and  which  is 
rare  in  a  person  possessed  of  so  high  a  reputation  as  he  enjoyed. 

The  literary  pursuits  of  Mr.  IRVING  were  interrupted  for  several 
years  after  the  publication  of  Knickerbocker.  During  this  interval,  he 
was  admitted  by  his  brothers  into  a  commercial  establishment,  that 
they  were  then  successfully  carrying  on,  and  in  which,  it  appeared,  he 
might  be  more  profitably  engaged  than  as  an  author.  The  business  of 
this  mercantile  house  being  interrupted  by  the  war  with  Great  Britain, 
Mr.  IRVING  was  left  free  to  share  in  the  general  military  spirit  that  the 
capture  of  Washington,  and  the  threatenings  of  the  enemy  to  attack 
New  York,  awakened  in  all  classes  of  the  community.  His  services 
were  tendered  to  Governor  Tompkins,  then  commanding  the  district 
of  New  York,  and  he  was  received  into  his  staff  as  an  aid-de-camp. 
In  this  employment  he  was  long  engaged,  and  performed  its  duties 
with  great  zeal,  not  only  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  his  native  city, 
but  in  several  missions  of  importance  to  the  interior  of  the  state.  The 
peace  put  an  end  to  this  occupation,  and  he  returned  to  his  commercial 
pursuits,  in  the  furtherance  of  which,  he  visited  England  in  the  spring 
of  18 15. 

His  previous  visit  to  England  had  been  made  in  winter,  and  he  had 
made  no  other  excursion  but  in  the  mail  from  London  to  Bath,  at  a 
season  when  the  shortness  of  the  day  gave  but  little  opportunity  to  view 
the  country.  The  peculiar  beauties  of  English  scenery,  therefore, 
broke  upon  him  with  unexpected  brilliancy.  Warwickshire,  in  which 
he  first  sojourned,  is  a  district  of  no  little  rural  beauty ;  in  it  are  to  be 
found  some  of  the  sites  that  recall  the  most  exciting  passages  of  English 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

history,  or  awaken  the  most  pleasing  literary  recollections.  Kenilworth 
and  Warwick  exhibit,  the  one  the  most  splendid  remains  of  baronial 
grandeur,  the  other  the  only  perfect  specimen  of  the  feudal  castle; 
Stratford  on  the  Avon  still  possesses  the  house  in  which  Shakspeare 
drew  his  first  breath,  and  the  picturesque  Gothic  church,  in  which  his 
remains  repose  safely,  under  the  protection  of  his  poetic  malediction ; 
the  Lucies  still  inhabit  the  manor  house,  from  whose  park  the  deer  was 
stolen  that  fixed  the  course  of  the  great  dramatist's  existence.  In 
more  than  one  direction,  episcopal  cities  raise  high  the  turrets  of  their 
venerable  minsters,  and  spread  abroad  their  shadowy  cloisters,  while 
hedge  row,  and  mead,  and  cultured  field,  tell  of  the  successful  toils 
of  a  rural  life,  more  inviting,  perhaps,  to  the  romantic  fancy,  than 
agreeable  to  those  who  are  compelled  to  pursue  them.  To  one  who 
had  already  celebrated  the  restless  enterprise  of  the  swarms  of  the 
New  England  hive,  who  spread  like  locusts  over  the  wilderness,  de 
stroying  every  tree,  and  laying  waste  every  germ  of  natural  beauty, 
the  calm  contrast  afforded  by  the  farmers  of  England,  generations  of 
whom  are  born  in  the  same  cottage,  and  entombed  beneath  the  same 
yews,  was  a  subject  of  agreeable  study. 

In  the  summer  which  followed  his  arrival,  Mr.  IRVING  joined  a  friend  in 
a  tour  through  the  valley  of  the  Severn,  in  Gloucestershire,  and  Wales. 
The  letters  addressed  by  him  at  this  period  to  his  American  friends 
would,  if  published,  form  the  most  interesting  portions  of  his  works, 
and  exhibit,  with  greater  freshness,  descriptions  of  scenery  and  charac 
ter,  like  the  rich  pictures  that  he  afterwards  embodied  in  the  "  Sketch 
Bock"  and  "  Bracebridge  Hall." 

Mr.  IRVING'S  literary  career  might  have  now  been  considered  at  an 
end ;  his  commercial  connections  appeared  to  promise  him  wealth, 
more  than  commensurate  with  his  wishes.  But  the  unhappy  revolu 
tion  in  the  business  of  New  York,  that  followed  the  unexampled  profits 
with  which  the  first  importations  were  attended,  prostrated  the  mer 
cantile  house  with  which  he  was  connected,  along  with  many  of  the 
most  respectable,  and  even  opulent  merchants  of  the  United  States. 
This  blow,  however  painful  at  the  time,  had  the  happy  effect  of 
restoring  him  to  the  world  of  literature.  He  prepared  his  "  Sketch 
Book,"  and  took  measures  to  have  it  simultaneously  published  in 
London  and  America.  Its  success  was  complete,  His  own  countrymen 
hailed  with  joy,  the  renewal  of  the  exertions  in  which  they  had  before 
delighted,  and  the  English  nation  joined  to  applaud  the  author,  who, 
without  abandoning  his  just  national  pride,  was  yet  sensible  to  those 
feelings  in  which  Englishmen  glory,  and  exhibited  the  honest  exulta- 


WASHINGTON  IRVING. 

tion  of  a  descendant,  in  the  honors  of  the  mighty  names  which  have 
embellished  the  literary  annals  of  Great  Britain. 

The  "  Sketch  Book"  was  admired,  and  its  author  sought  for  ;  the 
aristocratic  circles  of  the  British  metropolis  received  with  open  arms 
the  transatlantic  writer ;  and  names  of  no  small  note  in  modern  litera 
ture  did  not  disdain  to  be  ranked  on  the  list  of  his  imitators.  He  may 
justly  pride  himself  on  having  pointed  out  a  new  track  to  a  host  of 
aspirants,  and  to  have,  himself,  surpassed  all  who  followed  him  in  it. 
Works  upon  a  similar  plan  wrere  eagerly  asked  from  him ;  their  appear 
ance,  at  no  distant  intervals,  increased  his  fame,  and  soon  left  him  no 
cause  to  regret  the  prostration  of  his  commercial  hopes. 

The  honors  of  Mr.  IRVING  were  not  limited  to  the  climes,  extensive 
though  they  be,  in  which  the  English  tongue  is  spoken.  Translations 
were  made  of  his  tales  into  most  of  the  languages  of  the  continent,  and 
when  he  subsequently  visited  France,  Germany,  and  Spain,  he  found 
himself  received  with  the  honors  due  to  a  national  favorite.  In  the 
last  named  kingdom,  he  undertook  the  task  of  giving  to  his  country  and 
to  Europe,  the  history  of  the  life  of  that  hero,  who,  in  the  words  of 
his  epitaph,  gave  a  new  world  to  Castile  and  Leon,  but  who  may  be 
said,  with  more  justice,  to  have  opened  to  the  oppressed  of  every  clime 
a  secure  and  safe  refuge,  a  field,  in  which  the  principles  of  freedom 
might  be  safely  cultivated.  This  enterprise  was  not  wanting  in  bold 
ness,  as  it  placed  him  in  immediate  comparison  with  one  of  the  most 
celebrated  among  British  historians;  but  it  was  eminently  successful, 
as  was  its  interesting  abridgment.  These  are  destined,  the  one  to  be 
the  first  in  every  collection  of  American  history,  the  other  to  be  the 
earliest  study  of  American  youth.  His  tour  in  Spain  led  him  to  the 
halls  of  the  Alhambra,  where  he  was  delayed  by  the  exciting  visions 
they  called  up,  of  the  chivalrous  times  when  the  haughty  Castilian, 
and  the  gallant  Arab,  held  their  last  contest  for  the  possession  of  the 
fair  realm  of  Grenada.  Such  associations  have  given  birth  to  two 
successful  works.  These  were  succeeded  by  the  Adventures  of  the 
Companions  of  Columbus,  the  brave  partners  of  his  perilous  enterprise, 
we  wish  we  could  add,  his  imitators  in  humanity  and  benevolence. 

On  the  return  of  Mr.  IRVING  to  his  native  country,  he  was  greeted 
with  a  degree  of  warmth  rarely  equalled.  To  many,  he  was  endeared 
by  the  recollection  of  intimate  and  affectionate  intercourse,  while  a 
new  generation,  that  had  sprung  up  in  his  absence,  crowded  with  zeal 
to  see  and  honor  the  pride  of  the  literature  of  America — the  author, 
who  had  first  and  successfully  answered  the  reproachful  question, 
"  Who  reads  an  American  book  ?"  Had  he  felt  inclined  to  encourage 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

the  public  enthusiasm,  his  tour  throughout  the  United  States 
might  have  been  one  continued  ovation. 

Soon  after  his  return  to  his  native  land,  Mr.  IRVING  travelled  to 
a  considerable  extent,  especially  with  a  view  of  ascertaining  the 
chief  places  of  residence  of  the  Aborigines  of  our  country,  of  be 
coming  acquainted  with  their  customs  and  manners,  and  of  exam 
ining  the  influence  which  neighboring  civilization  had  exerted 
upon  them.  His  subsequent  works  have  been  thus  greatly  en 
riched,  and  the  pleasure  and  profit  of  his  thousands  of  readers 
have  been  increased.  He  now  sat  down  in  earnest  to  his  literary 
engagements,  and  in  1835  published  his  "  Tour  on  the  Prairies," 
"  Legends  of  the  Conquest  of  Spain,"  and  "  Abbotsford  and  New- 
stead  Abbey."  While  these  books  considerably  vary  in  subject 
and  character,  a  very  cursory  examination  will  show  the  extreme 
care,  the  ceaseless  industry,  and  the  fine  taste  of  the  author.  In 
the  year  following  was  published  "Astoria,"  a  work  less  known 
than  some  others  of  Mr.  LIVING'S  productions,  but  fall  of  deep 
and  thrilling  interest,  and  disclosing  facts  of  which  no  man 
ought  to  be  ignorant.  In  1847  followed  "Bonneville's  Adven 
tures  in  the  Rocky  Mountains,"  which  we  have  read  with  great 
pleasure.  And  in  1839  appeared  his  tender  and  beautiful 
"Biography  of  Margaret  Davidson." 

IRVING  had  now  become  the  "Washington  of  American  litera 
ture,  and  his  powers  were  to  culminate  in  setting  forth,  promi 
nently,  the  achievements  and  excellencies  of  the  Father  of  his 
Country.  Ever  since  1825  his  thoughts  had  been  bending 
toward  a  Life  of  Washington.  In  1829  he  was  about  to  begin 
the  work,  saying,  "  I  shall  take  my  own  time  to  execute  it,  and 
will  spare  no  pains.  It  must  be  my  great  and  crowning  labor." 
Still  it  was  delayed,  for,  like  the  century-plant,  its  own  time 
must  come.  In  1841  he  actually  commenced  it,  and  made  fair 
headway,  when  he  was  interrupted  by  an  honor  totally  unsought 
and  unexpected.  Daniel  Webster,  the  distinguished  Secretary 
of  State  at  Washington,  counting  the  hours  required  for  his 
letter  to  reach  its  destination,  said  one  day,  "  WASHINGTON 
IRVING  is  now  the  most  astonished  man  in  the  City  of  New 
York."  The  statesman  was  smiling  in  one  city,  the  scholar  was 
pacing  his  room  in  another,  surprised  that  his  country  should 
need  his  services,  and  appoint  him  its  minister  at  the  Court  of 
Spain.  Now  he  was  impressed  with  the  honor  conferred  upon 
one  who  had  never  solicited  a  favor  from  the  country  which  he 
had  unconsciously  ennobled;  again  he  was  keenly  alive  to  the 

10 


WASHINGTON  IRVING. 

pain  of  an  exile  from  the  quiet  enjoyments  of  Sunnyside.  He 
accepted  the  appointment,  "  with  no  common  feelings  of  pride 
and  gratitude,"  from  motives  of  duty,  and  under  the  conviction 
that  it  would  not  interfere  with  his  new  literary  task.  It  has 
always  been  of  great  advantage  to  our  nationality  when  such 
literary  gentlemen  have  been  our  representatives  at  foreign 
capitals ;  bat  the  value  of  Mr.  IRVING'S  shining  talents,  com 
mand  of  European  languages,  elegant  taste,  and  historical 
knowledge,  is  beyond  estimate  in  the  sphere  of  foreign  diplo 
macy,  lie  was  a  model  of  ministerial  accomplishments,  whom 
the  National  Government  should  ever  keep  before  its  eyes. 
After  four  years  of  conscientious  diplomacy,  and  of  constant 
sighing  for  his  retreat  on  the  Hudson,  he  thus  drew,  for  an  Eng 
lish  eye,  the  picture  of  his  hope  and  his  home :  ""When  relieved 
from  the  duties  and  restraints  of  office,  I  shall  make  farewell 
visits  to  my  friends  in  England  and  elsewhere ;  then  ship  my 
self  for  America,  and  hasten  back  to  my  cottage,  where  every 
thing  is  ready  for  my  reception,  and  where  I  have  but  to  walk 
in,  hang  up  my  hat,  kiss  my  nieces,  and  take  my  seat  in  m^ 
elbow-chair  for  the  remainder  of  my  life." 

On  his  return  he  confessed  himself  "too  ready  to  do  airy- 
thing  else  rather  than  write."  His  friends  urged  him  to  prepare 
a  revised  and  uniform  edition  of  his  works,  to  push  forward  the 
Life  of  Washington,  and  then  "take  his  ease  forever  after." 
Again  were  his  mind  and  pen  actively  engaged ;  but  he  was 
led  into  the  episode  of  preparing  his  enchanting  volume  of 
"  Goldsmith,"  and  his  vivid  history  of  "  Mahomet  and  his  Suc 
cessors."  These  being  launched  upon  their  bright  career,  his 
most  earnest  desire  was  to  begin  anew  and  zealously  the  great 
work  which  the  entire  Anglo-Saxon  world  was  expecting  from 
his  hands.  "All  I  fear,"  said  he,  in  his  sixty-sixth  year,  "is  to 
fail  in  health,  and  to  fail  in  completing  this  work  at  the  same 
time.  If  I  can  only  live  to  finish  it,  I  would  be  willing  to  die 
the  next  moment.  I  think  I  can  make  it  a  most  interesting 
book  —  can  give  interest  and  strength  to  many  points  without 
any  prostration  of  historic  dignity.  If  I  had  only  ten  years 
more  of  life !  I  never  felt  more  able  to  write." 

Four  years  later  the  first  volume  was  issued,  IRVING  declaring 
that  it  "  had  long  been  announced  as  forthcoming,  to  the  great 
annoyance  of  the  author."  Still  later,  when  the  last  volume 
was  progressing,  he  said  to  a  friend,  as  he  referred  to  his 

11 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

failing  health  and  his  departure  into  the  region  of  eternal 
morning,  "  I  am  getting  ready  to  go ;  I  am  shutting  up  my 
doors  and  windows."  He  lived  to  give  his  "crowning  work" 
the  last  touches  of  genius  and  of  elegance.  Thousands  count 
it  a  most  thankworthy  privilege  to  themselves  and  their  chil 
dren  to  have  the  names  of  Washington  and  of  IRVING  thus 
united  in  the  final  labors  of  the  most  distinguished  writer  which 
our  country  has  produced. 

"With  all  his  love  for  the  shade,  Mr.  IRVING  was  no  recluse. 
The  man  was  as  genial  and  captivating  as  his  writings,  a  per 
fection  not  always  found  in  authors.  He  preferred  to  "  be  liked 
rather  than  admired."  In  social  life  he  dispensed  and  won  both 
sympathy  and  admiration.  While  giving  brilliancy  to  ever) 
circle  of  friendship,  he  never  assumed  that  he  was  the  chief 
star,  nor  compelled  others  to  suspect  their  inferiority.  Hence 
their  cheerful  tribute  to  his  greatness  on  all  occasions.  Justly 
has  it  been  said,  "  Few  men  are  so  identified  personally  with 
their  literary  productions,  or  have  combined  with  admiration 
of  their  genius  such  a  cordial,  home-like  welcome  in  the  purest 
affections  of  their  readers.  We  never  become  weary  with  the 
repetition  of  his  familiar  name  ;  no  caprice  of  fashion  tempts  us 
to  enthrone  a  new  idol  in  place  of  the  ancient  favorite ;  and 
even  intellectual  jealousies  shrink  back  before  the  soft  brilliancy 
of  his  reputation." 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  portrait  of  Mr.  IRVING,  which  embel 
lishes  the  "  Gallery,"  was  taken  in  the  prime  of  life,  blending 
his  dignity  of  intellect  with  his  cheerfulness  of  nature.  The 
qualities  of  mind  and  heart  met  upon  his  face,  not  for  battle, 
but  for  blessing;  hence  his  countenance  always  presented  a 
harvest  of  generous  wishes  and  goodwill  to  men.  His  literary 
success  contributed  to  preserve  the  goodness  of  his  face  in  old 
age.  At  his  death  the  press  had  returned  to  him  more  than 
two  hundred  thousand  dollars,  along  with  an  imperishable 
renown.  More  than  all  this  to  him  were  the  supports  and  hap 
piness  of  Christianity.  He  died  November  28,  1859,  at  the  age 
of  seventy-six,  entering  upon  his  eternal  career,  according  to 
his  own  pathetic  aspiration,  "with  all  sail  set."  His  was  one  of 
the  great  funerals  of  the  country.  The  first  December  day 
gave  place  to  the  Indian  Summer,  which  his  pen  had  so  often 
painted,  a  touching  symbol  of  the  man,  his  writings,  and  the 
calm  glory  of  his  cloudless  fame. 

12 


BISHOP  OF  THK  PROTKSTAHT  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  IN    THK  COMMONWEALTH  OF  PENNSYLVANIA. 


9  S  .7 


WILL,  D. 


IT  is  given  to  few  men  to  leave 

than  thar  <bject  of  this  rner. 

His  father,  Col.  Thomas  White,  a  native  oi 

Maryland  in  early  youth  and  there  engaged  in  s* 
•r,  was  a  man  of  sound  judgment  and  sterhi 
married,  first  to  a  daughter  of  Colonel  Edw<, 
'y,  and  secondly  to  Mrs.  Esther  Newman,  a  la 

Jersey,  and  whose  maiden  name  was  Hewlings.     By  tliis  lady, 
White  married  shortly  after  his  removal  to  :• 


748,  N.  S. 


;r,  the  Bishoj 


>een  a  tru- 

school, 


truth,  b 

c      a  n/1    ft- 


an 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

there  occurred  some  circumstances,  particularly  the  decease  of  an  amia 
ble  young  lady,  of  my  own  age,  but  in  whom  I  had  not  felt  any  farther 
interest  than  as  an  acquaintance  of  my  sister.  This  event  gave  my 
mind  a  tendency  to  religious  exercises  and  inquiries,  which  were  pro 
moted  by  its  being  understood  that  a  visit  was  expected  from  the  Rev 
George  Whitefield.  His  coming  caused  religion  to  be  more  than  com 
monly  a  subject  of  conversation;  and  this  added  to  the  existing 
tendency  of  my  mind."  Whitefield,  at  this  period  (1763)  was  in  im 
paired  health,  his  naturally  slender  person  had  become  corpulent,  and 
his  rare  powers  of  utterance  were  affected  by  these  causes  ;  yet  even 
under  such  great  disadvantages  "  his  force  of  emphasis  and  the  melodies 
of  his  tones  and  cadences,"  says  the  Bishop,  "  exceeded  what  I  had  ever 
witnessed  in  any  other  person."  Our  youthful  hearer  was  not  among 
the  field  preacher's  devotees,  yet,  the  glow  of  eloquence  with  which 
Whitefield  in  "thoughts  that  breathe"  gave  life  to  sacred  subjects,  and, 
besides  this,  the  earnest  religious  conversations  of  the  day,  must  have 
produced  powerful  effects  upon  a  mind  then  roused  to  serious  thoughts 
upon  religion.  But  with  a  calmness  amid  the  prevailing  agitations 
that  was  remarkable  in  a  boy  of  only  sixteen  years,  he  did  not  find 
himself  disposed  to  be  a  "  convert."  He  states  that  he  could  not 
reconcile  to  his  mind  the  vows  and  doings  of  Whitefield,  as  a  clergy 
man  of  the  established  church — "  his  obligations,  and  his  utter  disre 
gard  of  them."  This  aspect  of  things,  new  and  strange  to  an  ingenuous 
young  man,  most  happily  led  him  to  deliberate  investigation,  and  thus 
those  principles  of  apostolic  order  were  fixed  in  his  mind  on  which  he 
was  destined,  in  the  course  of  Providence,  to  lay  the  foundation  of  the 
now  flourishing  American  Episcopal  Church. 

Having  spent  three  years  in  college,  he  graduated,  in  1765,  at  the 
age  of  eighteen,  and  soon  began  the  study  of  theology. 

In  October,  1770,  he  embarked  for  Europe,  writh  the  usual  letters  to 
Dr.  Terrick,  then  Bishop  of  London,  in  which  diocese  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  churches  of  British  America  wrere  considered  to  be,  before 
the  Revolution.  The  candidate  was  examined  by  the  Bishop's  chap 
lain,  and,  with  many  others,  was  ordained  a  deacon,  under  letters 
demissory,  by  Dr.  Young,  the  Bishop  of  Norwich,  in  the  Royal 
chapel,  of  which  the  Bishop  of  London  was  the  Dean. 

After  this  he  remained  eighteen  months  in  England,  where,  in  the 
society  of  some  valued  relatives  at  Twickenham,  and  in  occasional 
journeys,  he  im  >roved  himself  in  useful  learning,  laid  up  rich  materials 
for  reflection,  and  cultivated  the  acquaintance  of  the  wise  and  good. 
Alluding  to  these  journeys,  he  speaks  particularly  of  his  visit  to  Lan 


WILLIAM  WHITE. 

.'/•hire  and  Derbyshire,  of  his  tour  to  Bath  and  to  the  University  of 
Oxford ;  of  his  interview  with  Dr.  Kennicott,  from  whom  he  received 
a  copy  of  his  Hebrew  collations ;  of  the  preaching  of  Dr.  Robert  Lowth, 
afterwards  Bishop  of  London ;  of  his  conversing  with  Goldsmith  on  the 
rtate  of  the  peasantry  depicted  in  the  Deserted  Village ;  and  of  his 
introduction  to  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson,  with  whom  he  had  occasional 
conversations,  and  whom  he  saw  occupied  in  preparing  a  new  edition 
of  his  Dictionary.  In  April,  1772,  he  was  admitted  to  priest's  orders; 
m  June,  he  embarked  for  America ;  and  in  September,  arrived  at 
Philadelphia,  where  he  was  soon  settled  as  an  assistant  minister  in  the 
parish  of  Christ  Church  and  St.  Peter's. 

During  the  long  period  of  sixty-four  years,  he  labored  in  the  cause 
of  piety  and  learning,  not  only  in  the  institutions  peculiar  to  his  church, 
but  in  all  the  prominent  institutions  of  Philadelphia — for  sixty-three 
years  a  Trustee  of  the  University;  the  President  of  the  Bible  Society 
of  Philadelphia,  the  first  established  in  the  United  States ;  the  President 
of  the  Dispensary,  from  its  origin  in  1784 ;  of  the  Prison  Society  from 
Us  revival  in  1787 ;  of  the  Society  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb,  and  of  the 
Society  for  the  Blind.  With  many  other  institutions  he  was  connected 
as  manager  or  member ;  and  before  the  birth  of  most  of  his  later  coadju 
tors  in  these  public  charities,  he  laid  the  corner  stones  of  their  edifices, 
and  established  the  principles  of  their  perpetuity  and  success. 

Well  read  in  the  history  of  England,  and  adopting  those  principles 
which  entered  into  its  constitution  from  the  Saxon  times,  he  thought, 
felt  and  acted  with  our  revolutionary  patriots,  very  many  of  whom 
were  his  associates  and  friends.  "  When  my  countrymen,"  said  he, 
"  had  chosen  the  dreadful  measure  of  resistance,  it  was  also  the  dictate 
of  my  conscience  to  take  what  seemed  the  right  side."  He  entered 
fully  into  the  subject  as  a  decided  Christian  patriot.  His  brethren  in 
the  assistant  ministry  of  the  parish  preached  animating  sermons  before 
battalions  of  soldiery ;  but  this  he  refused  to  do,  alleging  that  he  did 
not  think  it  right  to  make  his  ministry  "  instrumental  to  the  war,"  or, 
as  he  said,  "  to  beat  the  ecclesiastical  drum."  With  all  the  other  clergy 
of  the  Church  of  England,  he  used  the  prayer  for  the  king,  until  the 
Sunday  following  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  soon  after  which  he 
took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United  States. 

The  disquietudes  occasioned  by  the  war  induced  him,  in  September, 
1777,  to  leave  Philadelphia,  then  occupied  by  British  troops,  and  to 
repair  with  his  family  to  the  house  of  Mr.  Aquila  Hall,  in  Harfortf 
county,  Maryland,  who  had  married  his  half-sister.  While  there,  he 
received  official  notice  that  congress,  who  had  fled  to  York  in  Pennsyl 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

vania,  had  chosen  him  one  of  their  chaplains.  Consistent  in  his  principles, 
he  at  once  accepted  the  appointment  and  performed  the  stated  duties  of 
the  chaplaincy.  He  continued  to  act  as  chaplain  to  congress  until  the 
removal  of  the  seat  of  the  general  government  to  New  York.  When 
congress  returned  to  Philadelphia,  after  the  adoption  of  the  present 
constitution,  he  was  again  chosen  one  of  the  chaplains,  and  continued  as 
such  until  1801,  when  the  government  was  removed  to  Washington 
City. 

A  dark  cloud  hung  over  the  Church  of  England  in  America  at  this 
crisis.  In  Pennsylvania,  the  settled  clergy  of  the  province,  exclusive 
of  the  city,  had  at  no  time  exceeded  six  in  number,  and  all  these  re 
lied  chiefly  for  their  support  on  stipends  received  from  England.  The 
war  led  some  of  them  to  leave  the  country,  some  died,  and  Mr.  WHITE 
was  soon  left  the  only  Episcopal  clergyman  in  the  state. 

The  rectorship  of  the  parish  of  Christ  Church  and  St.  Peter's,  after 
a  time,  was  declared  by  the  vestry  to  be  vacant ;  and  they  at  once 
unanimously  elected  Mr.  WTHITE  to  the  office.  In  the  spring  of  1783,  he 
received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from  the  University  of  Penn 
sylvania,  being  the  first  to  receive  the  honor  from  that  body. 

In  August  1782,  Mr.  WHITE  despairing  of  a  prompt  acknowledgment 
of  our  independence,  and  seeing  the  Episcopal  ministry  nearly  extinct, 
had  written  and  published  a  small  pamphlet,  called  "  The  case  of  the 
Episcopal  Churches  in  the  United  States  considered."  It  was  issued 
without  the  author's  name ;  but  its  pure  spirit  and  its  noble  bearing 
proved  it  the  production  of  a  superior  mind.  It  depicted  with  a  faith 
ful  pencil  the  entire  desolation  which  awaited  a  rapidly  declining  church, 
and  pressed  the  obligation  of  adopting  speedy  and  decisive  measures, 
to  perpetuate  her  ministry  and  worship.  With  this  view,  it  proposed 
the  establishment  of  an  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States,  to  be 
divided  into  districts,  each  district  to  have  not  only  clerical  but  LAY 
delegates,  and  all  the  districts  to  be  represented  in  a  continental  con 
vention  of  the  church.  The  proposed  districts  being  thus  constituted, 
"they  should  elect  a  clergyman  their  permanent  president,  who,  in 
conjunction  with  other  clergymen  to  be  appointed  by  the  body,  might 
exercise  such  powers  as  are  purely  spiritual,  particularly  that  of  ad 
mitting  to  the  ministry."  The  convention  was,  however,  to  declare 
in  favor  of  Episcopacy,  and  profess  a  determination  to  procure  the 
apostolical  succession  as  soon  as  it  could  conveniently  be  had. 

This  proposed  deviation  from  the  ancient  apostolic  practice,  was 
startling  to  all  those  who  held  that  the  office  of  bishops  was  essential 
to  the  existence  of  the  church.  But  when  numerous  Episcopal  con- 


WILLIAM  WHITE. 

gregations  were  scattered,  "  having  no  shepherd,"  when  many  of  the 
churches  had  been  closed  for  years,  when  the  war  prevented  the  filling 
of  vacancies,  when  these  vacancies  were  daily  multiplying  by  deaths  or 
by  removal,  and  when  there  were  but  few  Episcopal  pulpits  in  the 
whole  country  from  which  the  gospel  sound  was  heard,  it  was  indeed 
a  time  of  peculiar  emergency.  The  prospects  of  churchmen  in  America 
were  veiled  in  the  deepest  gloom.  It  was  the  summer  of  the  year  1783. 
The  mother  country  had  not  yet  recognized  our  national  independence. 
It  was  the  opinion  of  judicious  persons  that  she  might  perhaps  lay 
down  her  weapons,  but  not  yield  her  claims.  And  in  this  exigency  of 
the  case,  the  author  of  the  pamphlet  appealed  to  the  high  authority  of 
Hooker,  Hoadly,  Usher  and  Cranmer ;  and  suggested  yielding  to  a 
temporary  deviation  from  the  ancient  practice  rather  than  the  abandon 
ment  of  every  ordinance  of  positive  and  divine  appointment.  He  argued 
against  any  union  of  church  and  state.  And  although  James  I.  might 
teach  IN  ENGLAND,  "  No  bishop,  no  king ;  and  no  king,  no  bishop," 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES,  just  rising  in  the  freshness  and  vigor  of  their 
independence,  Episcopacy  by  no  means  seemed  to  depend  upon  the 
will,  no,  nor  on  the  existence  of  a  monarch,  but  might,  as  has  actually 
proved  to  be  the  case,  flourish  at  least  as  well  without  as  with  the 
patronage  of  government. 

The  whole  subject,  however,  in  a  few  months  assumed  a  form  thai 
met  the  hopes,  and  responded  to  the  prayers  of  many.  Our  independ 
ence  was  acknowledged  by  Great  Britain  in  September,  1783.  The 
organization  of  the  church  very  soon  commenced.  The  first  step  taken 
was  an  invitation  from  the  vestry  of  Christ  Church  and  St.  Peter's, 
in  November,  1783,  to  the  vestry  of  St.  Paul's.  Deputies  met  on  the 
29th  of  March,  1784,  at  Dr.  WHITE'S  house,  who  invited  a  convention 
of  delegates  from  all  the  churches  in  the  state,  which  met  on  the  24th 
of  the  following  May,  at  Christ  Church,  Philadelphia.  In  a  few  days 
their  proceedings  were  laid  before  a  meeting  in  New  Jersey,  which  was 
followed  .by  a  meeting  in  New  York  ;  and  thence  resulted  the  call  of  the 
first  General  Convention,  which  was  held  at  Philadelphia  in  September 
and  October,  1785. 

At  this  first  General  Convention,  Dr.  WHITE  presided.  A  committee 
was  appointed  to  draft  and  report  a  constitution,  of  which  committee 
he  was  a  member.  The  instrument  was  written  by  his  hand.  His 
thorough  knowledge  of  his  subject  enabled  him  to  meet  the  views  and 
wishes  of  all  parties.  The  constitution  was  adopted,  and  during  the 
lapse  of  nearly  seventy  years  it  has  united  in  a  holy  bond  the  once 
scattered  members  of  the  Episcopal  communion.  Certain  alteration? 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

were  made  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  it  was  resolved  to 
address  the  Archbishops  and  Bishops  of  England,  asking  for  the  conse 
cration  of  Bishops  elect  from  America. 

The  clergy  of  Connecticut,  acting  apart,  had  already  (1785)  succeeded 
in  obtaining  a  bishop,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Seabury;  consecrated, 
however,  not  by  English  bishops,  but  by  the  bishops  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  in  Scotland.  Yet  this  did  not  meet  the  existing  want ;  and 
there  was  a  general  and  decided  wish  that  the  proposed  bishops  should, 
by  all  means,  be  consecrated  in  ENGLAND.  There  wTere  also,  both  at  home 
and  abroad,  Lot  a  few  who  doubted  whether  this  consecration  by  the 
Scotch  bishops  was  valid.  Among  these  was  the  celebrated  Granville 
Sharp,  the  grandson  of  Archbishop  Sharp,  whose  deep  interest  in  the 
American  Episcopacy  appears  from  his  letter  to  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  and  Dr.  Franklin. 

The  address  of  the  General  Convention  of  1785,  was  handed  to  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  by  our  foreign  minister,  John  Adams,  who 
used  his  influence,  on  many  occasions,  to  facilitate  the  measure  proposed. 

The  history  of  the  times  exhibits  numerous  and  afflictive  embarrass 
ments  arising  from  the  want  of  resident  bishops.  Applications  from 
America  were  made  again  and  again ;  and  in  England  the  measure  found 
warm  advocates  in  many,  especially  in  Archbishop  Seeker.  But  jealousy 
on  the  part  of  the  colonies,  in  regard  not  only  to  the  office  but  the  name 
of  bishop,  and  prudential  considerations  on  the  part  of  the  British 
crown,  presented  for  a  long  time  insuperable  barriers.  The  only  depend 
ence  for  a  supply  of  clergy  was  on  emigration,  or  on  candidates  sent  to 
the  Bishop  of  London  for  their  orders.  The  revolution  in  the  colonies 
created  disabilities  even  on  his  part.  And  after  our  civil  independence 
had  been  recognized,  new  difficulties  were  suggested ;  so  that  when 
certain  candidates  applied  soon  after  the  peace  of  1783,  they  could  not, 
as  citizens  of  a  free  country,  take  the  oaths  of  allegiance  required  at 
ordination.  The  candidates  turned  their  thoughts  to  the  Episcopal 
Church  of  Denmark,  and  soon  received  through  our  minister,  Mr. 
Adams,  favorable  answers  to  inquiries  which  he  had  proposed  on 
their  behalf.  Mr.  Adams  had  conferred  on  the  subject  with  M.  de  St. 
Saphorin,  the  Danish  minister,  who  wrote  to  the  King's  foreign  secre 
tary,  the  Count  de  Rosencrone ;  and  the  result  was  an  official  commu 
nication  to  our  government,  transmitted  to  the  president  of  Congress. 
But  an  act  of  Parliament,  passed  in  1786,  and  the  proceedings  of 
Churchmen  in  America,  especially  their  address,  soon  rendered  it  un 
necessary  to  accept  the  offer,  so  very  promptly  and  liberally  made  by 
the  Iheological  faculty  and  the  government  of  Denmark. 


WILLIAM  WHITE. 

In  the  spring  of  1786,  a  favorable  reply  to  the  address  was  received 
from  England,  signed  by  the  two  Archbishops  and  eighteen  of  the 
twenty-four  bishops  of  the  established  church.  General  Conventions 
on  the  subject  met  in  June  and  October.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Provost  of 
New  York,  Dr.  WHITE  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Dr.  Griffith  of  Virginia, 
were  duly  chosen  by  their  respective  conventions  to  proceed  to  Eng 
land  for  the  Episcopate.  The  latter,  from  some  domestic  cause,  was' 
unable  to  proceed.  The  others  soon  embarked,  and  in  eighteen  days 
landed  at  Falmouth.  Mr.  Adams  presented  them  to  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  the  Most  Rev.  John  Moore,  by  whom,  assisted  by  Dr. 
Markham,  Archbishop  of  York,  and  Bishops  Moss  and  Hinchliffe, 
they  were  consecrated  on  the  4th  of  February,  1787,  in  the  chapel  of 
the  archiepiscopal  palace  at  Lambeth.  On  Easter-day,  April  7th, 
1787,  they  were  again  in  the  United  States,  and  soon  entered  on  the 
active  duties  of  their  office.  In  the  year  1790,  Dr.  Madison  of  Vir 
ginia,  was  also  consecrated  at  Lambeth.  During  his  life,  nearly  all 
the  succeeding  bishops  of  the  United  States  were  consecrated  by  Bishop 
WHITE. 

Episcopacy  was  now  established  in  the  United  States  under  the 
most  advantageous  circumstances.  It  attracted  the  attention  of  all 
other  communions,  and  especially  conciliated  the  regards  of  certain 
members  of  the  Methodist  society.  One  of  their  spiritual  fathers,  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Coke,  whom  Mr.  Wesley,  to  use  his  own  words,  invested, 
"  as  far  as  he  had  a  right  to  do,  with  Episcopal  authority,"  was  not 
satisfied  with  this  wide  deviation  from  apostolic  practice,  and  wrote  to 
Bishop  WHITE,  explicitly  proposing  that  the  American  bishops  should 
re-ordain  all  the  preachers  of  the  Methodist  society,  admit  Mr.  Asbury 
and  himself  to  the  Episcopate,  and  virtually  effect  a  re-union  of 
Methodists  and  Episcopalians.  Bishop  WHITE,  from  the  beginning, 
saw  that  the  measure,  as  proposed,  must  fail ;  but  Bishop  Madison 
was  very  favorable  to  the  scheme.  At  a  meeting  of  the  General  Con 
vention  in  1792,  he  introduced  a  motion  upon  the  subject,  into  the 
House  of  Bishops,  and  led  them  to  bring  it  before  the  house  of  Cleri 
cal  and  Lay  delegates.  But  the  whole  project  was  then  laid  aside 
and  has  never  since  been  seriously  agitated. 

The  advanced  age  of  Bishop  WHITE  and  the  increasing  labors  of  his 
office  in  a  diocese  so  extensive  as  Pennsylvania,  led  him  in  the  year 
1826,  to  propose,  at  a  special  convention  of  the  diocese,  the  election 
of  an  assistant  bishop.  At  that  convention  no  election  was  held  ; 
the  vote  of  the  clergy  being  equally  divided  between  the  two  candi 
dates  presented.  At  the  annual  convention  in  1827,  held  at  Harnsburg, 

7  VOL.  1.— R 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

the  Rev.  Henry  U.  Onderdonk,  of  the  diocese  of  New  York,  was 
chosen  to  the  office,  which  he  filled  during  the  remainder  of  Bishop 
WHITE'S  life  and  then  succeeded  him  in  the  Episcopate. 

In  1832  Bishop  WHITE  published,  over  the  signature  of  "  A  citizen 
of  Philadelphia,"  an  address  to  the  councils  of  Philadelphia  upon  the 
subject  of  the  college  for  which  Mr.  Girard  had  made  provision  in  his 
will.  According  to  that  instrument  the  clergy  of  all  denominations 
were  excluded  from  the  institution,  and  were  prohibited  from  entering 
its  enclosure.  The  Bishop,  in  common  with  other  good  men  of  differ 
ent  denominations,  feared  that  all  religious  instruction  would  likewise 
be  excluded,  and  therefore  urged  the  city  authorities  to  refuse  the 
acceptance  of  the  legacy.  Experience  has  shown  that  his  fears  were 
groundless,  though  the  injurious  prohibition,  so  awfully  indicative  of 
persecution,  is  still  in  force. 

In  the  spring  of  183o,  missionaries  were  sent  to  China  by  the  Epis 
copal  Church,  and  the  task  of  preparing  instructions  for  their  guidance  in 
that  country  was  entrusted  to  Bishop  WHITE.  It  was  well  discharged, 
and  the  admirable  paper  prepared  by  him  showed  that  the  vigor  of  his 
mind  was  entirely  unimpaired  at  the  age  of  eighty-eight. 

The  close  of  his  useful  life  was  now  at  hand.  Blessed  with  an 
unusually  vigorous  constitution,  he  had  enjoyed  a  degree  of  health 
seldom  equalled.  In  the  month  of  June,  1836,  he  experienced  a 
severe  attack  of  illness,  but  had  recovered  sufficiently  to  preach  on  the 
last  Sunday  of  that  month  at  St.  Peter's  Church,  what  proved  to  be 
his  last  sermon.  The  energy  with  which  he  delivered  it,  and  the 
strength  of  his  voice,  were  remarked  at  the  time.  On  the  second  of 
July,  on  rising  from  his  bed  in  the  night,  he  had  a  severe  fall,  owing 
to  no  cause  that  could  be  ascertained  other  than  weakness.  A  gradual 
decay  of  his  bodily  powers  followed,  and  on  the  17th  of  July,  1836,  he 
closed  his  useful  life,  without  pain,  and  in  perfect  consciousness  that  the 
time  of  his  departure  had  come.  He  had  witnessed  the  establishment 
of  his  church  as  a  distinct  branch  of  the  church  universal,  had  seen  its 
growth  from  small  and  feeble  beginnings,  and  left  it  peaceful  and 
prosperous.  Twenty-four  bishops  of  that  communion  had  received 
their  consecration  at  his  hands.  He  died  on  the  eve  of  the  consecra 
tion  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  McCroskey,  as  Bishop  of  Michigan,  at  which  it  had 
been  proposed  that  Bishop  WHITE  was  to  preach  and  to  preside.  The 
prejudice,  which  had  at  first  checked  the  establishment  of  the  Protest 
ant  Episcopal  Church,  he  lived  to  see  nearly  extinct,  and  it  must  be 
said  in  his  praise  that  this  happy  state  of  feeling  was  greatly  owing  to 
his  moderation,  to  his  excellence  in  every  duty,  public  and  private,  and 


WILLIAM  WHITE. 

to  his  benevolent  and  truly  catholic  spirit.  He  died  without  an  enemy, 
and  the  large  train  of  mourners,  including  the  clergy  and  laymen  of 
all  denominations,  which  accompanied  his  remains  to  the  tomb,  testified 
how  greatly  his  loss  was  felt.  His  body  was  interred  in  the  family 
vault  adjoining  Christ  Church,  on  the  20th  of  July,  1836.  Bishop  H. 
U.  Onderdonk,  his  successor,  preached  an  appropriate  sermon  upon 
the  occasion. 

All  the  amiable  virtues  which  can  adorn  the  character  of  a  Christian, 
and  especially  a  Christian  minister,  shone  brightly  in  his  character. 
Firm  in  the  maintenance  of  what  he  held  to  be  the  truth,  he  offended 
no  one  by  violence,  or  want  of  charity  in  the  expression  of  his  opinions. 
Courteous  and  affable,  he  was  always  accessible  to  the  young,  in 
whose  society  he  took  great  pleasure.  No  clergyman  in  Philadelphia 
has,  probably,  united  more  couples  in  marriage  than  Bishop  WHITE 
To  be  married  by  him  was  always  considered  an  honor.  Of  some 
families,  he  saw  five  generations  in  the  church. 

His  conduct  as  a  husband,  father  and  friend  was  all  that  could  be 
desired.  As  a  citizen,  he  took  a  lively  interest  in  the  welfare  of  his 
country.  His  course  during  the  Revolution  has  been  already  detailed. 
He  felt  the  exercise  of  the  right  of  suffrage  to  be  a  duty,  and  never 
omitted  giving  his  vote  when  not  prevented  by  ill  health  or  absence. 

His  writings  were  numerous.  The  catalogue  of  them  in  the  memoir 
of  his  life,  prepared  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bird  Wilson,  occupies  eleven 
octavo  pages.  The  most  prominent  are  the  "Memoirs  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,"  in  one  octavo  volume ;  the  "  Comparative  Views 
of  the  Controversy  between  the  Calvinists  and  the  Arminians,"  in 
two  octavo  volumes ;  the  "  Lectures  on  the  Catechism/'*  and  the 
"  Commentaries  on  the  Ordination  Services,"  each  in  a  single  octavo 
volume.  The  style  of  his  writings  was  plain  and  clear,  without  use 
less  ornament,  and  based  upon  that  of  the  writers  of  the  days  of  Queen 
Anrie. 

The  accompanying  portrait  presents  a  faithful  likeness  of  the  good 
Bishop  in  his  latter  years.  He  never  appeared  in  the  streets  without 
attracting  attention  and  respect.  Tall,  and  slightly  bent  by  the  ad 
vance  of  years,  with  flowing  white  locks  and  countenance  full  of 
benevolence,  he  walked  among  us,  connecting  us  with  the  era  of  the 
Revolution,  one  of  the  last  of  the  men  of  that  day.  At  the  age  of 
eighty-nine  he  "  was  gathered  with  his  fathers,"  and  finished  a  course 
not  more  remarkable  for  its  length  than  for  the  virtues  and  Christian 
graces  which  adorned  it. 

Such  a  man  as  Bishop  WHITE  never  really  di-es.     His  memory  is 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

yet  precious  in  the  hearts  of  thousands ;  not  a  few  of  whom  in  the 
Prayer  Book  Society  and  the  Parish  Libraries  of  the  United  States, 
and  in  the  Episcopal  Floating  Church  of  his  native  city,  have  done  very 
much  to  perpetuate  his  name ;  while  by  those  institutions,  though  "  being 
dead  he  yet  speaketh."  His  spirit  still  acts  in  the  hearts  of  multitudes, 
who  heard  from  his  lips  the  glad  sound  of  salvation,  or  in  their  child 
ren,  to  whom  they  have  transmitted  the  knowledge  of  it.  The  ramifica 
tions  of  the  influence  of  such  a  man  are  almost  infinite,  as  they, 
assuredly,  are  eternal.  His  religion  had  great  power,  which  not  only 
made  him  a  blessing  while  on  earth,  but  constitutes  the  blessings  diffused 
by  him  immortal.  Monuments  of  his  worth  and  labors  cover  our  coun 
try ;  nay,  they  are  to  be  seen  in  far-off  landsj  and  from  other  nations,  as 
well  as  our  own,  shall  praises  long  ascend  to  Heaven  that  God  qualified 
him  and  sent  him  forth  to  labor  in  his  vineyard  ;  while  in  Heaven  itself 
shall  he  hear  the  songs  of  immortality  presented  to  the  Holy  Spirit,  who 
crowned  those  labors  with  abundant  success ;  and  while  he  feels  the 
high  honor  thus  conferred  on  him,  he  shall  humbly  cast  his  crown  at  the 

feet  of  his  adorable  Lord. 

10 


JOHN    MAI  L.  D. 


;  MARSHALL,  the  sketch 

born  ir  county,   in   th 

of  September,  1755.     His  •  father  \\- 
the   same  state,  who   served  with  great 

nary  war,  as   a  colonel   in  the  line  of  th 
Colonel  Marshall  was  a  planter  of  .a  very  small  • 
received  but  a  narrow  education.     These  dencienci 
amply  supplied  by  the  gifts  of  nature.     His  talents  were  o* 
order,  and  he  cultivated  t;  great dilig^ 

so   M 

ciates  of  no  mean  chan  °f 

.d  be  addiu 

this 

COD* 

of  1; 

compare  him  will 

yet   living, 

i 

ideally  r  '  ot  ^ 

his  father  w.= 

*  .  -o  is  bey- 

uibute  of 
luis  put  rh^last  seal  U}* 

d  it  the 

r  calmly  to  contemplate  1.  ;nce. 

ael  Marshall  had  fifteen  >   sorae  oi  wliom  are  now 

$;  and  it  has  long  been  a  matter  of  publio  fame,  thr 
females  as  well  as  males,  pos.s  :ssed  superior  in 
'wnients.     JOHN  was  the  eldest  child;   and  was  o 
to  en^-a ere  the  solicitude  of  his  father.     In  th» 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

the  family,  at  that  time  almost  upon  the  frontier  settlements  of  the. 
country,  (for  Fauquier  was  a  frontier  county,)  it  was  of  course,  that 
the  early  education  of  all  the  children  should  devolve  upon  its  head. 
Colonel  Marshall  superintended  the  studies  of  his  eldest  son,  and  gave 
him  a  decided  taste  for  English  literature,  and  especially  for  history 
and  poetry.  At  the  age  of  twelve  he  had  transcribed  Pope's  Essay 
on  Man,  and  also  some  of  his  moral  essays.  The  love  of  poetry,  thus 
awakened  in  his  warm  and  vigorous  mind,  never  ceased  to  exert  n 
commanding  influence  over  it.  He  became  enamored  of  the 
classical  writers  of  the  old  school,  and  was  instructed  by  their  solid 
sense,  and  their  beautiful  imagery.  In  the  enthusiasm  of  youth,  he 
often  indulged  himself  in  poetical  compositions,  and  freely  gave  up 
his  hours  of  leisure  to  those  delicious  dreamings  of  the  muse,  which 
(say  what  we  may)  constitute  some  of  the  purest  sources  of  pleasure 
in  the  gay  scenes  of  life,  and  some  of  the  sweetest  consolations  in 
adversity  and  affliction,  throughout  every  subsequent  period  of  it.  It 
is  well  known,  that  he  continued  to  cultivate  this  his  favorite  study, 
and  to  read  with  intense  interest  the  gay  as  well  as  the  loftier 
productions  of  the  divine  art.  One  of  the  best  recommendations  of  the 
taste  for  poetry  in  early  life  is,  that  it  does  not  die  with  youth ;  but 
affords  to  maturer  years  an  invigorating  energy,  and  to  old  age  a 
serene  and  welcome  employment,  always  within  reach,  and  always 
coming  with  a  fresh  charm.  Its  gentle  influence  is  then  like  that 
so  happily  treated  by  Gray.  The  lover  of  the  muses  may  truly  say, 

I  feel  the  gales  that  round  ye  blow 

A  momentary  bliss  bestow, 

As,  waving  fresh  their  gladsome  wing, 

My  weary  soul  they  seem  to  soothe, 

And  redolent  of  joy  and  youth 

To  breathe  a  second  spring. 

The  contrast,  was  always  somewhat  striking  between  that  close 
reasoning,  which  almost  rejected  the  aid  of  ornament,  in  the  juridical 
labors  of  the  Chief  Justice,  and  that  generous  taste,  which  devoted 
itself  with  equal  delight  to  the  works  of  fiction  and  song.  Yet  the 
union  has  been  far  less  uncommon  than  slight  observers  are  apt  to 
imagine.  Lord  Hardwicke  and  Lord  Mansfield  had  an  ardent 
thirst  for  general  literature,  and  each  of  them  was  a  cultivator,  if 
not  a  devotee,  of  the  lighter  productions  of  the  imagination. 

There  being  at  that  time  no  grammar  school  in  the  part  of  the 
country  where  Colonel  Marshall  resided,  his  son  was  sent,  at  the  a^e 
ot  fourteen,  about  a  hundred  miles  from  home,  and  placed  under  thr 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  MARSHALL. 

tuition  of  a  Mr.  Campbell,  a  clergyman  of  great  respectability.  H« 
remained  with  him  -a  year,  and  then  returned  home,  and  was  put 
under  the  care  of  a  Scotch  gentleman,  who  was  just  introduced  into 
the  parish  as  pastor ;  and  resided  in  his  father's  family.  He  pursued 
his  classical  studies  under  this  gentleman's  direction,  while  he 
remained  in  the  family,  which  was  about  a  year ;  and  at  the 
termination  of  it,  he  had  commenced  reading  Horace  and  Livy.  His 
subsequent  mastery  of  the  classics  was  the  result  of  his  own  efforts, 
without  any  other  aid  than  his  grammar  and  dictionary.  He  never 
had  the  benefit  of  an  education  at  any  college,  and  his  attainments  in 
learning  were  cherished  by  the  solitary  vigils  of  his  own  genius. 
His  father,  however,  continued  to  superintend  his  English  education, 
to  cherish  his  love  of  knowledge,  to  give  a  solid  cast  to  his  acquire 
ments,  and  to  store  his  mind  with  the  most  valuable  materials.  He 
was  not  merely  a  watchful  parent,  but  an  instructive  and  affectionate 
friend,  and  soon  became  the  most  constant,  as  he  was  at  the  time 
almost  the  only  intelligent,  companion  of  his  son.  The  time  not 
devoted  to  his  society  was  passed  in  hardy  athletic  exercises,  and 
probably  to  this  circumstance  was  owing  that  robust  constitution  which 

seemed  fresh  and  firm  in  old  age. 

o 

About  the  time  when  young  MARSHALL  entered  his  eighteenth 
year,  the  controversy  between  Great  Britain  and  her  American 
colonies  began  to  assume  a  portentous  aspect,  and  engaged,  and 
indeed  absorbed,  the  attention  of  all  the  colonists,  whether  they  were 
young,  or  old,  in  private  and  secluded  life,  or  in  political  and  public 
bodies.  He  entered  into  it  with  all  the  zeal  and  enthusiasm  of  a  youth, 
full  of  love  for  his  country  and  liberty,  and  deeply  sensible  of  its 
rights  and  its  wrongs.  He  devoted  much  time  to  acquiring  the  first 
rudiments  of  military  exercise  in  a  voluntary  independent  company, 
composed  of  gentlemen  of  the  county ;  to  training  a  militia  company 
in  the  neighborhood,  and  to  reading  the  political  essays  of  the  day. 
For  these  animating  pursuits,  the  preludes  of  public  resistance,  he 
was  quite  content  to  relinquish  the  classics,  and  the  less  inviting,  but 
with  reference  to  his  future  destiny,  the  more  profitable  Commen 
taries  of  Sir  William  Blackstone. 

In  the  summer  of  1775,  he  received  an  appointment  as  first 
lieutenant  in  a  company  of  minute-men  enrolled  for  actual  service 
who  were  assembled  in  battalion  on  the  first  of  the  ensuing  September 
In  a  few  days  they  were  ordered  to  march  into  the  lower  country, 
for  the  purpose  of  defending  it  against  a  small  regular  and  predatory 
force  commanded  by  Lord  Dunmore.  They  constituted  part  of  tin- 


Gl 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

troops  destined  for  the  relief  of  Norfolk  ;  and  Lieutenant  MARSHALL 
was  engaged  in  the  battle  of  the  Great  Bridge,  where  the  British 
troops,  under  Lord  Dunmore,  were  repulsed  with  great  gallantry 
The  way  being  thus  opened  by  the  retreat  of  the  British,  he 
marched  with  the  provincials  to  Norfolk,  and  was  present  when 
that  city  was  set  on  fire  by  a  detachment  from  the  British  ships  then 
lying  in  the  river. 

In  July,  1776,  he  was  appointed  first  lieutenant  in  the  eleventh 
Virginia  regiment  on  the  continental  establishment ;  and  in  the  course 
of  the  succeeding  winter,  he  marched  to  the  north,  where,  in  May, 
1777,  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  captain.  He  was  subsequently 
engaged  in  the  skirmish  at  Iron  Hill  with  the  light  infantry,  and 
fought  in  the  memorable  battles  of  Brandywine,  Germantown,  and 
Monmouth. 

That  part  of  the  Virginia  line,  which  was  not  ordered  to  Charleston 
(S.  C.,)  being  in  effect  dissolved  by  the  expiration  of  the  term  of 
enlistment  of  the  soldiers,  the  officers  (among  whom  was  Captain 
MARSHALL)  were,  in  the  winter  of  1779-80,  directed  to  return  home,  in 
order  to  take  charge  of  such  men  as  the  state  legislature  should  raise 
for  them.  It  was  during  this  season  of  inaction  that  he  availed 
himself  of  the  opportunity  of  attending  a  course  of  law  lectures  given 
by  Mr.  Wythe,  afterwards  chancellor  of  the  state ;  and  a  course  of 
lectures  on  natural  philosophy,  given  by  Mr.  Madison,  president  of 
William  and  Mary  College  in  Virginia.  He  left  this  college  in  the 
summer  vacation  of  1780.  and  obtained  a  license  to  practice  law.  In 
October  he  returned  to  the  army,  and  continued  in  service  until  the 
termination  of  Arnold's  invasion.  After  this  period,  and  before  the 
invasion  of  Phillips,  in  February,  1781,  there  being  a  redundancy  of 
officers  in  the  Virginia  line,  he  resigned  his  commission. 

During  the  invasion  of  Virginia,  the  courts  of  law  were  suspended, 
and  were  not  reopened  until  after  the  capitulation  of  Lord  Cornwallis 
Immediately  after  that  event  Mr.  MARSHALL  commenced  the  practice 
of  law,  and  soon  rose  into  distinction  at  the  bar. 

In  the  spring  of  1782,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  state 
legislature,  and  in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year  a  member  of 
the  executive  council.  In  January,  1783,  he  married  Miss  Ambler, 
the  daughter  of  a  gentleman  who  was  then  treasurer  of  the 
state,  and  to  whom  he  had  become  attached  before  he  left  the  army 
This  lady  lived  for  nearly  fifty  years  after  her  marriage,  to  partake 
and  to  enjoy  the  distinguished  honors  of  her  husband.  In  1784,  he 
-esigned  his  seat  at  the  council  board,  in  order  to  return  to  the  bar ; 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  MARSHALL. 

and  he  was  immediately  afterwards  again  elected  a  member  of  the 
legislature  for  the  county  of  Fauquier.  of  which  he  was  then  only 
nominally  an  inhabitant,  his  actual  residence  being  at  Richmond. 
In  1787  he  was  elected  a  member  from  the  county  of  Henrico  ;  and 
though  at  that  time  earnestly  engaged  in  the  duties  of  his  profession, 
he  embarked  largely  in  the  political  questions  which  then  agitated 
he  state,  and  indeed  the  whole  confederacy. 

Every  person  at  all  read  in  our  domestic  history  must  recollect  the 
dangers  and  difficulties  of  those  days.  The  termination  of  the 
revolutionary  war  left  the  country  impoverished  and  exhausted  by  its 
expenditures,  and  the  national  finances  at  a  low  state  of  depression. 
The  powers  of  congress  under  the  confederation,  which,  even  during 
the  war,  were  often  prostrated  by  the  neglect  of  a  single  state  to 
enforce  them,  became  in  the  ensuing  peace  utterly  relaxed  and 
inefficient. 

Credit,  private  as  well  as  public,  was  destroyed.  Agriculture  and 
commerce  were  crippled.  The  delicate  relation  of  debtor  and  creditor 
became  daily  more  and  more  embarrassed  and  embarrassing ;  and,  as 
is  usual  upon  such  occasions,  every  sort  of  expedient  was  resorted  to 
by  popular  leaders,  as  well  as  by  men  of  desperate  fortunes,  to 
inflame  the  public  mind,  and  to  bring  into  odium  those  who  labored 
to  preserve  the  public  faith,  and  to  establish  a  more  energetic  govern 
ment.  The  whole  country  was  soon  divided  into  two  great  parties, 
the  one  of  which  endeavored  to  put  an  end  to  the  public  evils  by  the 
establishment  of  a  government  over  the  Union,  which  should  be 
adequate  to  all  its  exigencies,  and  act  directly  on  the  people  ;  the 
other  was  devoted  to  state  authority,  jealous  of  all  federal  influence, 
and  determined  at  every  hazard  to  resist  its  increase. 

It  is  almost  unnecessary  to  say,  that  Mr.  MARSHALL  could  not 
remain  an  idle  or  indifferent  spectator  of  such  scenes.  As  little 
doubt  could  there  be  of  the  part  he  would  take  in  such  a  contest. 
He  was  at  once  arrayed  on  the  side  of  Washington  and  Madison 
In  Virginia,  as  every  where  else,  the  principal  topics  of  the  day  were 
paper  money,  the  collection  of  taxes,  the  preservation  of  public  faith, 
and  the  administration  of  civil  justice.  The  parties  were  nearly 
equally  divided  upon  all  these  topics ;  and  the  contest  concerning 
them  was  continually  renewed.  In  such  a  state  of  things,  every 
victory  was  but  a  temporary  and  questionable  triumph,  and  every 
defeat  still  left  enough  of  hope  to  excite  to  new  and  strenuous 
exertions.  The  affairs,  too,  of  the  confederacy  were  then  at  a  crisis. 
The  question  of  the  continuance  of  the  Union,  or  a  separation  of  the 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

states,  was  freely  discussed ;  and,  what  is  almost  startling  now  to 
repeat,  either  side  of  it  was  maintained  without  reproach.  Mr. 
Madison  was  at  this  time,  and  had  been  for  two  or  three  years,  a 
member  of  the  house  of  delegates,  and  was  in  fact  the  author  of  the 
resolution  for  the  general  convention  at  Philadelphia  to  ^revise  the 
confederation.  He  was  at  all  times  the  enlightened  advocate  of 
union,  and  of  an  efficient  federal  government,  and  he  received  on  all 
occasions  the  steady  support  of  Mr.  MARSHALL.  Many  have 
witnessed,  with  no  ordinary  emotions,  the  pleasure  with  which  both 
of  these  gentlemen  looked  back  upon  their  cooperation  at  that  period, 
and  the  sentiments  of  profound  respect  with  which  they  habitually 
regarded  each  other. 

Both  of  them  were  members  of  the  convention  subsequently 
called  in  Virginia  for  the  ratification  of  the  federal  constitution. 
This  instrument,  having  come  forth  under  the  auspices  of  General 
Washington  and  other  distinguished  patriots  of  the  Revolution,  was 
at  first  favorably  received  in  Virginia,  but  it  soon  encountered 
decided  hostility.  Its  defence  was  uniformly  and  most  powerfully 
maintained  there  by  Mr.  MARSHALL. 

The  debates  of  the  Virginia  convention  are  in  print.  But  we 
have  been  assured  by  the  highest  authority,  that  the  printed  volume 
affords  but  a  very  feeble  and  faint  sketch  of  the  actual  debates  on 
fiat  occasion,  or  of  the  vigor  with  which  every  attack  was  urged, 
and  every  onset  repelled,  against  the  constitution.  The  best  talents 
of  the  state  were  engaged  in  the  controversy.  The  principal  debates 
were  conducted  by  Patrick  Henry  and  James  Madison,  as  leaders. 
But  on  three  great  occasions,  namely,  the  debates  on  the  power  of 
taxation,  the  power  over  the  militia,  and  the  power  of  the  judiciary, 
Mr.  MARSHALL  gave  free  scope  to  his  genius,  and  argued  with  a  most 
commanding  ability. 

It  is  very  difficult  for  the  present  generation  to  conceive  the 
magnitude  of  the  dangers  to  which  we  were  then  exposed,  or  to 
realize  the  extent  of  the  obstacles  which  were  opposed  to  the 
adoption  of  the  constitution.  Notwithstanding  all  the  sufferings  of 
the  people,  the  acknowledged  imbecility  of  the  government,  and  the 
almost  desperate  state  of  our  public  affairs,  there  were  men  of  high 
character,  and  patriots  too,  who  clung  to  the  old  confederation  with 
an  enthusiastic  attachment,  and  saw  in  the  grant  of  any  new  powers, 
indeed  of  any  powers,  to  a  national  government,  nothing  but 
oppression  and  tyranny,  —  slavery  of  the  people  and  destruction  of 
the  state  governments  on  the  one  hand,  and  universal  despotism 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  MARSHALL. 

and  overwhelming  taxation  on  the  other.  Time,  the  great  umpire 
and  final  judge  of  these  questions,  has  indeed  now  abundantly  shown 
how  vain  were  the  fears,  and  how  unsound  the  principles  of  the 
opponents  of  the  constitution.  The  prophecies  of  its  friends  have 
been  abundantly  fulfilled  in  the  growth  and  solid  prosperity  of  their 
country ;  far,  indeed,  beyond  their  most  sanguine  expectations.  But 
our  gratitude  can  never  be  too  warm  to  those  eminent  men  who 
stemmed  the  torrent  of  public  prejudice,  and  with  a  wisdom  and 
prudence,  almost  surpassing  human  power,  laid  the  foundations 
of  that  government,  which  saved  us  at  the  hour  when  we  were 
ready  to  perish.  After  twenty-five  days  of  ardent  and  eloquent 
discussion,  to  which  justice  never  has  been,  and  never  can  now  be 
done,  (during  which  nine  states  adopted  the  constitution,)  the  question 
was  carried  in  its  favor  in  the  convention  of  Virginia  by  a  majority 
of  ten  votes  only. 

The  adoption  of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  having  been 
thus  secured,  Mr.  MARSHALL  immediately  formed  the  determination 
to  relinquish  public  life,  and  to  devote  himself  to  the  arduous  duties 
of  his  profession. 

A  man  of  his  eminence  could,  however,  with  very  great  difficulty 
adhere  rigidly  to  his  original  resolve.  The  state  legislature  having, 
in  December,  1788,  passed  an  act  allowing  a  representative  to  the  city 
of  Richmond,  Mr.  MARSHALL  was  almost  unanimously  invited  to 
become  a  candidate.  With  considerable  reluctance  he  yielded  to  the 
public  wishes,  being  principally  influenced  in  his  acceptance  of  the 
station,  by  the  increasing  hostility  manifested  in  the  state  against  the 
national  government,  and  his  own  anxious  desire  to  give  the  latter  his 
decided  and  public  support.  He  continued  in  the  legislature,  as  a 
representative  of  Richmond,  for  the  years  1789,  1790,  and  1791. 
During  this  period  every  important  measure  of  the  national 
government  was  discussed  in  the  state  legislature  with  great  freedom, 
and  no  inconsiderable  acrimony.  On  these  occasions  Mr.  MARSHALL 
vindicated  the  national  government  with  a  manly  and  zealous 
independence. 

After  the  termination  of  the  session  of  the  legislature,  in  179J, 
Mr.  MARSHALL  voluntarily  retired.  But  the  events  which  soon 
afterwards  occurred  in  Europe,  and  extended  a  most  awaKening 
influence  to  America,  did  not  long  permit  him  to  devote  himself  to 
piofessional  pursuits.  The  French  revolution,  in  its  early  dawu. 
wa?  hailed  with  universal  enthusiasm  in  America.  In  its  progress 
for  a  considerable  period,  it  continued  to  maintain  among  us  an 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

almost  unanimous  approbation.  Many  causes  conduced  to  this 
result.  Our  partiality  for  France,  from  *\  grateful  recollection  of  her 
services  in  our  own  revolutionary  contest,  was  ardent  and  undisguised. 
It  was  heightened  by  the  consideration,  that  she  was  herself  now 
engaged  in  a  struggle  for  liberty,  and  was  endeavoring  to  shake  off 
oppressions  under  which  she  had  been  groaning  for  centuries.  The 
monarchs  in  Europe  were  combined  in  a  mighty  league  for  the 
suppression  of  this  new  and  alarming  insurrection  against  the  claims 
of  legitimacy.  It  was  not  difficult  to  foresee,  that  if  they  were 
successful  in  this  enterprise,  we  ourselves  had  but  a  questionable 
security  for  our  own  independence.  It  would  be  natural  for  them, 
after  having  completed  their  European  conquests,  to  cast  their  eyes 
to  the  origin  of  the  evil,  and  to  feel  that  their  dynasties  were  not  quite 
safe,  (even  though  the  Atlantic  rolled  between  us  and  them,)  while  a 
living  example  of  liberty,  so  seductive  and  so  striking,  remained  in 
the  western  hemisphere. 

It  may  be  truly  said,  that  our  government  partook  largely  of  the 
general  interest,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  express  it  in  a  manner  not 
incompatible  with  the  strict  performance  of  the  duties  of  neutrality. 
Mr.  MARSHALL  was  as  warmly  attached  to  the  cause  of  France  as 
any  of  his  considerate  countrymen. 

After  the  death  of  Louis  XYL,  feelings  of  a  diiferent  sort  began 
to  mix  themselves,  not  only  in  the  public  councils,  but  in  private 
life.  Those,  whose  reflections  reached  beyond  the  events  of  the 
day,  began  to  entertain  fears,  lest,  in  our  enthusiasm  for  the  cause  of 
France,  we  might  be  plunged  into  war,  and  thus  jeopard  our  own 
vital  interests.  The  task  of  preserving  neutrality  was  of  itself 
sufficiently  difficult  when  the  mass  of  the  people  was  put  in  motion 
by  the  cheering  sounds  of  liberty  and  equality,  which  were  wafted 
on  every  breeze  across  the  Atlantic.  The  duty,  however,  was 
imperative ;  and  the  administration  determined  to  perform  it  with 
the  most  guarded  good  faith. 

The  decided  part  taken  by  Mr.  MARSHALL  could  not  long  remain 
unnoticed.  He  was  attacked  with  great  asperity  in  the  newspapers 
and  pamphlets  of  the  day,  and  designated,  by  way  of  significant 
reproach,  as  the  coadjutor  and  friend  of  Alexander  Hamilton. 

Against  these  attacks  he  defended  himself  with  a  zeal  and  ability 
proportioned  to  his  own  sincere  devotion  to  the  cause  which  he 
espoused. 

At  the  spring  election  for  the  state  legislature  in  the  year  1795,  Mr 
MARSHALL  was  not  a  candidate;  but  he  was  nevertheless  chosen 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  MARSHALL. 

under  somewhat  peculiar  circumstances.  From  the  time  of  his 
withdrawing  from  the  legislature,  two  opposing  candidates  had 
divided  the  city  of  Richmond ;  the  one,  his  intimate  friend,  and 
holding  the  same  political  sentiments  with  himself;  the  other,  a  most 
zealous  partisan  of  the  opposition.  Each  election  between  these 
gentlemen,  who  were  both  popular,  had  been  decided  by  a  small 
majority,  and  the  approaching  contest  was  entirely  doubtful.  Mr. 
MARSHALL  attended  the  polls  at  an  early  hour,  and  gave  his  vote  for 
his  friend.  While  at  the  polls,  a  gentleman  demanded  that  a  poll 
should  be  opened  for  Mr.  MARSHALL.  The  latter  was  greatly 
surprised  at  the  proposal,  and  unhesitatingly  expressed  his  dissent ; 
at  the  same  time,  he  announced  his  willingness  to  become  a 
candidate  the  next  year.  He  retired  from  the  polls,  and  immediately 
gave  his  attendance  to  the  business  of  one  of  the  courts,  which  was 
then  in  session.  A  poll  was,  however,  opened  for  him  in  his  absence 
by  the  gentleman  who  first  suggested  it,  notwithstanding  his  positive 
refusal.  The  election  was  suspended  for  a  few  minutes ;  a 
consultation  took  place  among  the  freeholders  ;  they  determined  to 
support  him ;  and  in  the  evening  he  received  the  information  of  his 
election.  A  more  honorable  tribute  to  his  merits  could  not  have  been 
paid ;  and  his  election  was  a  most  important  and  timely  measure  in 
favor  of  the  administration. 

It  will  be  recollected,  that  the  treaty  with  Great  Britain,  negotiated 
by  Mr.  Jay  in  1794,  was  the  subject  of  universal  discussion  at  this 
period.  No  sooner  was  its  ratification  advised  by  the  senate,  than 
public  meetings  were  called  in  all  our  principal  cities,  for  the  purpose 
of  inducing  the  president  to  withhold  his  ratification,  and  if  this  object 
were  not  attained,  then  to  prevent  in  congress  the  passage  of  the 
appropriations  necessary  to  carry  it  into  effect.  The  topics  of 
animadversion  were  not  confined  to  the  expediency  of  the  treaty  in 
its  principal  provisions,  but  the  bolder  ground  was  assumed,  that 
the  negotiation  of  a  commercial  treaty  by  the  executive  was  an 
unconstitutional  act,  and  an  infringement  of  the  power  given  to 
congress  to  regulate  commerce.  Mr.  MARSHALL  took  an  active  part 
in  the  discussions  upon  the  treaty.  Feeling,  that  the  ratification  of  it 
was  indispensable  to  the  preservation  of  peace,  that  its  main 
provisions  were  essentially  beneficial  to  the  United  States,  and 
comported  with  its  true  dignity  and  interests  ;  he  addressed  himself 
with  the  most  diligent  attention  to  an  examination  of  the  nature  and 
extent  of  all  its  provisions,  and  of  all  the  objections  urged  against  it. 
No  state  in  the  Union  exhibited  a  more  intense  hostility  to  it  than 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

Virginia,  upon  the  points  both  of  expediency  and  constitutionality , 
and  in  no  state  were  the  objections  urged  with  more  impassioned 
and  unsparing  earnestness.  The  task,  therefore,  of  meeting  and 
overthrowing  them  was  of  no  ordinary  magnitude,  and  required  all 
the  resources  of  the  ablest  mind.  Mr.  MARSHALL  came  to  the  task 
with  a  thorough  mastery  of  every  topic  connected  with  it.  At  a  public 
meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Richmond  he  carried  a  series  of  resolutions, 
approving  the  conduct  of  the  executive. 

But  a  more  difficult  and  delicate  duty  remained  to  be  performed. 
It  was  easy  to  foresee  that  the  controversy  would  soon  find  its  way 
from  the  public  forum  into  the  legislative  bodies ;  and  would  be  there 
renewed  with  the  bitter  animosity  of  party  spirit.  Indeed,  so 
unpopular  was  the  treaty  in  Virginia,  that  Mr.  MARSHALL'S  friends 
were  exceedingly  solicitous  that  he  should  avoid  engaging  in  any 
debate  in  the  legislature  on  the  subject,  as  it  would  be  a  sacrifice  of 
the  remains  of  his  well  deserved  popularity ;  and  it  might  be  even 
questioned  if  he  could  there  deliver  his  sentiments  without  exposure 
to  some  rude  attacks.  His  answer  to  all  such  suggestions  was 
uniform  ;  that  he  should  not  move  any  measure  to  excite  a  debate  ; 
but  if  the  subject  were  brought  forward  by  others,  he  should,  at  every 
hazard,  vindicate  the  administration,  and  assert  his  own  opinions. 
He  was  incapable  of  shrinking  from  a  just  expression  of  his  own 
independence.  The  subject  was  soon  introduced  by  his  political 
opponents,  and  the  constitutional  objections  were  urged  with 
triumphant  confidence.  That,  particularly,  which  denied  the 
constitutional  right  of  the  executive  to  conclude  a  commercied 
treaty,  was  selected  and  insisted  on  as  a  favorite  and  unanswerable 
position.  The  speech  of  Mr.  MARSHALL  on  this  occasion  has  been 
always  represented  as  one  of  the  noblest  efforts  of  his  genius.  His 
vast  powers  of  reasoning  were  employed  with  the  most  gratifying 
success.  He  demonstrated,  not  only  from  the  words  of  the 
constitution,  and  the  universal  practice  of  nations,  that  a  commercial 
treaty  was  within  the  constitutional  powers  of  the  executive,  but 
that  this  opinion  had  been  maintained  and  sanctioned  by  Mr. 
Jefferson,  by  the  whole  delegation  of  Virginia  in  congress,  and  by 
the  leading  members  in  the  convention  on  both  sides.  His  argument 
was  decisive ;  the  constitutional  ground  was  abandoned ;  and  the 
resolutions  of  the  assembly  were  confined  to  a  simple  disapprobation 
of  the  treaty  in  point  of  expediency. 

The  constitutional  objections  were  again  urged  in  congress  in  the 
celebrated  debate  on  the  British  treaty,  in  the  spring  of  1796 ;  and 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  xMARSHALL. 

there  finally  assumed  the  mitigated  shape  of  a  right  claimed  on  the 
part  of  congress  to  grant  or  withhold  appropriations  to  carry  treaties 
into  effect.  The  higher  ground,  that  commercial  treaties  were  not, 
when  ratified,  the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  was  abandoned  ;  and  the 
subsequent  practice  of  the  government  has,  without  question,  under 
every  administration,  conformed  to  the  construction  vindicated  by 
Mr.  MARSHALL.  The  fame  of  this  admirable  argument  spread 
through  the  Union.  Even  with  his  political  enemies,  it  enhanced  the 
elevation  of  his  character ;  and  it  brought  him  at  once  to  the  notice 
of  some  of  the  most  eminent  statesmen  who  then  graced  our  public 
councils 

After  thjs  period,  President  Washington  invited  Mr.  MARSHALL  to 
accept  the  office  of  attorney  general ;  but  he  declined  it,  upon  the 
ground  of  its  interference  with  his  lucrative  practice  in  Virginia. 
He  continued  in  the  state  legislature ;  but  did  not,  from  his  other 
engagements,  take  an  active  part  in  the  ordinary  business.  He 
confined  his  attention  principally  to  those  questions  which  involved 
the  main  interests  of  the  country,  and  brought  into  discussion  the 
policy  and  the  principles  of  the  national  parties. 

Upon  the  recall  of  Mr.  Monroe  as  minister,  from  Prance,  President 
Washington  solicited  Mr.  MARSHALL  to  accept  the  appointment  as 
his  successor ;  but  he  respectfully  declined,  and  General  Pinckney, 
of  South  Carolina,  was  appointed  in  his  stead. 

Mr.  MARSHALL  was  not,  however,  long  permitted  to  act  upon  his 
own  judgment  and  choice.  The  French  government  refused  to 
receive  General  Pinckney,  as  minister  from  the  United  States ;  and 
the  administration,  being  sincerely  anxious  to  exhaust  every  measure 
of  conciliation,  not  incompatible  with  the  national  dignity,  for  the 
preservation  of  peace,  resorted  to  the  extraordinary  measure  of 
sending  a  commission  of  three  envoys.  Within  a  year  from  the 
time  of  the  first  offer,  Mr.  Adams  having  succeeded  to  the  presidency, 
appointed  Mr.  MARSHALL  one  of  these  envoys,  in  conjunction  with 
General  Pinckney  and  Mr.  Gerry. 

After  some  hesitation,  Mr.  MARSHALL  accepted  the  appointment, 
and  soon  afterward  embarked  for  Amsterdam.  On  his  arrival  at  the 
Hague  he  met  General  Pinckney,  and  having  received  passports  they 
proceeded  to  Paris.  The  mission  was  unsuccessful ;  the  envoys 
were  never  accredited  by  the  French  government,  and  Mr.  MARSHAI  L 
returned  to  America  in  the  summer  of  1798.  Upon  him  principally 
devolved  the  duty  of  preparing  the  official  despatches.  They  have 
been  universally  attributed  to  his  pen,  nnd  are  models  of  skilfu 

11  YOL.1.— H 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

reasoning,  forcible  illustration,  accurate  detail,  and  urbane  and 
dignified  moderation.  In  the  annals  of  our  diplomacy  there  are  no 
papers  upon  which  an  American  can  look  back  with  more  unmixed 
pride  and  pleasure. 

Mr.  MARSHALL,  on  his  return  home,  found  that  he  had  sustained 
no  loss  by  a  diminution  of  professional  business,  and  looked 
forward  to  a  resumption  of  his  labors  with  high  hopes.  He  peremp 
torily  refused  for  a  considerable  time  to  become  a  candidate  for 
congress,  and  avowed  his  determination  to  remain  at  the  bar.  At 
this  juncture  he  was  invited  by  General  Washington  to  pass  a  few 
days  at  Mount  Vernon ;  and  having  accepted  the  invitation,  he  went 
there  in  company  with  Mr.  Justice  Washington,  the  nephew  of  General 
Washington,  and  a  highly  distinguished  judge  of  the  supreme  court 
of  the  United  States,  whose  death  the  public  had  afterwards  sad  occa 
sion  to  lament. 

What  took  place  upon  that  occasion  we  happen  to  have  the  good 
fortune  to  know  from  an  authentic  source.  General  Washington  did 
not  for  a  moment  disguise  the  object  of  his  invitation  ;  it  was  to  urge 
upon  Mr.  MARSHALL  and  Mr.  Washington  the  propriety  of  their 
becoming  candidates  for  congress.  Mr.  Washington  yielded  to  the 
wishes  of  his  uncle  without  a  struggle.  But  Mr.  MARSHALL  resisted 
on  the  ground  of  his  situation,  and  the  necessity  of  attending  to  his 
private  affairs.  The  reply  of  General  Washington  to  these 
suggestions  will  never  be  forgotten  by  those  who  heard  it.  It 
breathed  the  spirit  of  the  loftiest  virtue  and  patriotism.  He  said, 
that  there  were  crises  in  national  affairs  which  made  it  the  duty  of  a 
citizen  to  forego  his  private  for  the  public  interest.  He  considered 
the  country  to  be  then  in  one  of  these.  He  detailed  his  opinions 
freely  on  the  nature  of  the  controversy  with  France,  and  expressed 
his  conviction,  that  the  best  interests  of  America  depended  upon  the 
character  of  the  ensuing  congress.  The  conversation  was  long, 
animated,  and  impressive ;  full  of  the  deepest  interest,  and  the  most 
unreserved  confidence.  The  exhortation  of  General  Washington 

O 

had  its  effect.  Mr.  MARSHALL  yielded  to  his  representations,  and 
became  a  candidate,  and  was,  after  an  ardent  contest,  elected,  and 
took  his  seat  in  congress  in  December,  1799.  While  he  was  yet  a 
candidate,  he  was  offered  a  seat  on  the  bench  of  the  supreme  court, 
then  vacant  by  the  death  of  Mr.  Justice  Iredell.  Upon  his  declining 
it,  President  Adams  appointed  Mr.  Justice  Washington,  who  was  thus 
nrevented  from  becoming  a  member  of  congress. 

The  session  of  congress  in  the  winter  of  1799-1800  will  for  ever 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  MARSHALL. 

be  memorable  in  the  annals  of  America.  Men  of  the  highest  talents 
and  most  commanding  influence  in  the  Union  were  there  assembled, 
and  arrayed  with  all  the  hostility  of  party  spirit,  and  all  the  zeal  of 
conscious  responsibility,  against  each  other.  Every  important 
measure  of  the  administration  was  subjected  to  the  most  scrutinizing 
criticism ;  and  was  vindicated  with  a  warmth  proportionate  to  the 
ability  of  the  attack.  Mr.  MARSHALL  took  an  active  part  in  the 
debates,  and  distinguished  himself  in  a  manner  which  will  not 
easily  be  forgotten. 

In  May,  1800,  Mr.  MARSHALL  was,  without  the  slightest  personal 
communication,  nominated  by  the  president  to  the  office  of  secretary 
of  war,  upon  the  dismissal  of  Mr.  M' Henry.  We  believe  that  the 
first  information  received  of  it  by  Mr.  MARSHALL  was  at  the 
department  itself,  where  he  went  to  transact  some  business  previous 
to  his  return  to  Virginia.  He  immediately  wrote  a  letter,  requesting 
the  nomination  to  be  withdrawn  by  the  president.  It  was  not ;  and 
his  appointment  was  confirmed  by  the  senate.  The  rupture  between 
the  president  and  Colonel  Pickering,  who  was  then  secretary  of 
state,  soon  afterwards  occurred,  and  Mr.  MARSHALL  was  appointed 
his  successor.  This  was  indeed  an  appointment  in  every  view  most 
honorable  to  his  merits,  and  for  which  he  was  in  the  highest  degree 
qualified. 

On  the  31st  day  of  January,  1801,  he  became  chief  justice  of  the 
United  States,  and,  as  all  know,  till  his  death,  continued  to  fill  the 
office  with  increasing  reputation  and  unsullied  dignity. 

Splendid,  indeed,  as  was  the  judicial  career  of  this  eminent  man, 
it  is  scarcely  possible  that  the  extent  of  his  labors,  the  vigor  of  his 
intellect,  or  the  untiring  accuracy  of  his  learning,  should  be  duly 
estimated,  except  by  the  profession  of  which  he  was  so  great  an 
ornament.  Questions  of  law  rarely  assume  a  cast  which  introduces 
them  to  extensive  public  notice ;  and  those,  which  require  the 
highest  faculties  of  mind  to  master  and  expound,  are  commonly  so 
intricate  and  remote  from  the  ordinary  pursuits  of  life,  that  the 
generality  of  readers  do  not  bring  to  the  examination  of  them  the 
knowledge  necessary  to  comprehend  them,  or  the  curiosity  which 
imparts  a  relish  and  flavor  to  them.  For  the  most  part,  therefore,  the 
reputation  of  judges  is  confined  to  the  narrow  limits  which  embrace 
the  votaries  of  jurisprudence  ;  and  many  of  those  exquisite  judg- 

ents,  which  have  cost  days  and  nights  of  the  most  elaborate 
study,  and  for  power  of  thought,  beauty  of  illustration,  variety  of 
learning,  and  elegant  demonstration,  are  justly  numbered  among  the 

13 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

highest  reaches  of  the  human  mind,  find  no  admiration  beyond  the 
ranks  of  lawyers,  and  live  only  in  the  dusty  repositories  of  their 
oracles.  The  fame  of  the  warrior  is  for  ever  imbodied  in  the  history 
of  his  country,  and  is  colored  with  the  warm  lights  reflected  back  by 
the  praise  of  many  a  distant  age.  The  orator  and  the  statesman  live 
not  merely  in  the  recollections  of  their  powerful  eloquence,  or  the 
deep  impressions  made  by  them  on  the  character  of  the  generation 
in  which  they  lived,  but  are  brought  forth  for  public  approbation  in 
political  debates,  in  splendid  volumes,  in  collegiate  declamations, 
in  the  works  of  rhetoricians,  in  the  school-books  of  boys,  arid  in  the 
elegant  extracts  of  maturer  life. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  enter  upon  a  minute  survey  of  the  official 
labors  of  Mr.  CHIEF  JUSTICE  MARSHALL.  However  instructive  or 
interesting  such  a  course  might  be  to  the  profession,  the  considerations 
already  adverted  to,  sufficiently  admonish  us  that  it  would  not  be  very 
welcome  to  the  mass  of  other  readers.  But  there  is  one  class  of 
cases  which  ought  not  to  be  overlooked,  because  it  comes  home  to 
the  business  and  bosom  of  every  citizen  of  this  country,  and  is  felt  in 
every  gradation  of  life,  from  the  chief  magistrate  down  to  the  inmate 
of  the  cottage.  We  allude  to  the  grave  discussions  of  constitutional 
law,  which  during  his  life-time  attracted  so  much  of  the  talents  of 
the  bar  in  the  supreme  court,  and  sometimes  agitated  the  whole 
nation.  If  all  others  of  the  Chief  Justice's  juridical  arguments  had 
perished,  his  luminous  judgments  on  these  occasions  would  have 
given  an  enviable  immortality  to  his  name. 

There  is  in  the  discharge  of  this  delicate  and  important  duty, 
which  is  peculiar  to  our  institutions,  a  moral  grandeur  and  interest, 
which  it  is  not  easy  to  over-estimate  either  in  a  political  or  civil  view. 
In  no  other  country  on  earth  are  the  acts  of  the  legislature  liable  to 
be  called  in  question,  and  even  set  aside,  if  they  do  not  conform  to 
the  standard  of  the  constitution.  Even  in  England,  where  the 
principles  of  civil  liberty  are  cherished  with  uncommon  ardor,  and 
private  justice  is  administered  with  a  pure  and  elevated  independence, 
the  acts  of  parliament  are,  by  the  very  theory  of  the  government,  in 
a  legal  sense,  omnipotent.  They  cannot  be  gainsaid  or  overruled- 
They  form  the  law  of  the  -land,  which  controls  the  prerogative  and 
even  the  descent  of  the  crown  itself,  and  may  take  away  the  life  and 
property  of  the  subject  without  trial  and  without  appeal.  The  only 
security  is  in  the  moderation  of  parliament  itself  and  representative 
responsibility.  The  case  is  far  otherwise  in  America.  The  state 
and  national  constitutions  form  the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  and 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  MARSHALL. 

(he  judges  are  sworn  to  maintain  these  charters  of  liberty,  or  rather 
these  special  delegations  of  power  by  the  people,  (who  in  our  govern 
ments  are  alone  the  depositaries  of  supreme  authority  and  sovereignty,) 
in  their  original  vigor  and  true  intendment.  It  matters  not  how  popu 
lar  a  statute  may  be,  or  how  commanding  the  majority  by  which  it 
has  been  enacted  ;  it  must  stand  the  test  of  the  constitution,  or  it  falls. 
The  humblest  citizen  may  question  its  constitutionality ;  and  its  final 
fate  must  be  settled  upon  grave  argument  and  debate  by  the  judges 
of  the  land. 

This  topic  is  so  copious,  and  of  such  everlasting  consequence  to  the 
well-being  of  this  republic,  that  it  furnishes  matter  for  volumes  ;  but 
we  must  escape  from  it  with  the  brief  hints  already  suggested,  and 
lesume  our  previous  subject. 

Nor  is  this  the  mere  theory  of  the  constitution.  It  is  a  function 
which  has  been  often  performed  ;  and  not  a  few  acts  of  state  as  well 
as  of  national  legislation,  have  been  brought  to  this  severe  scrutiny  J 
and  after  the  fullest  consideration,  some  have  been  pronounced  to  be 
void,  because  they  were  unconstitutional.  And  these  judgments  have 
been  acquiesced  in,  and  obeyed,  even  when  they  were  highly  offensive 
to  the  pride  and  sovereignty  of  the  state  itself,  or  affected  piivate  and 
public  interests  to  an  incalculable  extent.  Such,  in  America,  is  the 
majesty  of  the  law.  Such  is  the  homage  of  a  free  people  to  the  insti 
tutions  created  by  themselves. 

The  mightiest  efforts  of  men  have  their  limits,  and  the  most  useful 
life  must  come  to  a  close.  About  the  commencement  of  the  year  1835, 
the  health  of  Judge  MARSHALL  began  to  fail,  nor  can  this  be  a  matter 
of  surprise  when  it  is  remembered  that  the  labors  of  his  life  had  brought 
him  into  the  eightieth  year  of  his  age.  He  removed  from  Richmond 
to  Philadelphia,  in  order  to  obtain  the  best  medical  aid  ;  this,  however, 
failed  to  accomplish  his  purpose,  and  on  the  sixth  of  July  in  that  year 
he  died,  surrounded  by  three  of  his  children.  To  the  last  moment  he 
retained  the  faculties  of  his  mind,  and  met  his  end  with  the  fortitude 
of  a  philosopher  and  the  resignation  of  a  Christian.  It  is  painful  to 
add  here  that  his  eldest  son, — a  gentleman  distinguished  as  a  scholar, 
a  lawyer,  and  a  member  of  the  Virginia  legislature,  and  who  was 
highly  esteemed  for  his  talents,  his  virtues,  and  his  usefulness — was 
killed,  by  the  fall  of  a  chimney,  at  Baltimore,  on  his  way  to  attend  the 
death-bed  of  his  father. 

Judge  MARSHALL  was  the  object  of  universal  respect  and  confidence, 
on  account  of  his  extraordinary  talents,  his  unsuspected  integrity,  his 
exemplary  private  virtues,  and  his  important  public  services,  which 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

last  were  deemed  by  many  of  his  countrymen  as  second  only  to  those 
of  Washington.  As  a  judge,  he  was  the  most  illustrious  of  his  day  in 
our  country.  Few  men  have  ever  held  so  important  a  judicial  office 
as  long ;  and  no  one,  perhaps,  ever  more  effectually  stamped  the  de 
cisions  of  his  court  with  the  impress  of  his  own  powerful  mind.  He 
was  remarkable  for  the  simplicity  of  his  manners,  for  the  plainness  of 
his  dress,  and  for  the  kindness  of  his  heart,  as  well  as  for  the  strength 
of  his  mind.  No  man  ever  bore  public  honors  more  meekly.  He 
mingled  with  his  neighbors  and  society  as  an  ordinary  citizen.  He 
took  a  lively  interest  in  objects  of  benevolence  and  human  improve 
ment  ;  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  Christian  religion,  a  regular  attendant 
at  the  Episcopal  church,  one  of  the  vice-presidents  of  the  American 
Bible  Society,  and  the  president  of  the  Colonization  Society.  "  Such 
indeed,"  says  one  of  his  friends,  "were  the  purity,  integrity,  and 
benevolence  of  his  character,  the  soundness  of  his  judgment,  and  the 
simplicity  and  kindness  of  his  manners,  that,  though  always  on  the 
unpopular  side  of  party  politics,  yet  he  was  the  most  beloved  and 
esteemed  of  all  men  in  Virginia." 

It  has  been  well  said,  in  connection  with  Judge  MARSHALL,  that, 
interesting  as  it  is  to  contemplate  such  a  man  in  his  public  character, 
and  official  functions,  there  are  those  who  dwell  with  far  more  delight 
upon  his  private  and  domestic  qualities.  There  are  few  great  men 
whom  one  is  brought  near,  however  dazzling  may  be  their  talents  or 
actions,  who  are  not  thereby  painfully  diminished  in  the  estimate  of 
those  who  approach  them.  The  mist  of  distance  sometimes  gives  a 
looming  size  to  their  character ;  but  more  often  conceals  its  defects. 
To  be  amiable,  as  well  as  great ;  to  be  kind,  gentle,  simple,  modest, 
and  social,  and  at  the  same  time  to  possess  the  rarest  endowments  of 
mind,  and  the  warmest  affections,  is  a  union  of  qualities  which  the 
fancy  may  fondly  portray,  but  the  sober  realities  of  life  rarely  establish. 
Yet  it  may  be  affirmed  by  those  who  had  the  privilege  of  intimacy 
with  Mr.  Chief  Justice  MARSHALL,  that  he  rose,  rather  than  fell,  with 
the  nearest  surveys ;  and  that  in  the  domestic  circle  he  was  exactly 
what  a  wife,  a  child,  a  brother,  and  a  friend  would  most  desire.  In 
that  magical  circle,  admiration  of  his  talents  was  forgotten  in  the  in 
dulgence  of  those  affections  and  sensibilities  which  are  awakened  only 
to  be  gratified. 

This  may  be  a  proper  place  to  narrate  an  interesting  circumstance 
as  strikingly  illustrative  of  the  character  and  manners  of  the  Judge  ; 
which,  however  well  known,  is  worthy  of  a  still  wider  circulation 
ana  of  permanent  record. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  MARSHALL. 

A  gentleman  traveling  in  Virginia,  about  the  close  of  the  day 
stopped  at  a  tavern  to  obtain  refreshments  and  spend  the  night.  He 
had  been  there  but  a  short  time,  before  an  old  man  alighted  from  his 
carriage,  with  the  apparent  intention  of  becoming  also  a  guest  at  the 
same  house.  As  the  old  gentleman  drove  up,  it  was  observed  that 
both  the  shafts  of  his  gig  were  broken,  and  that  they  were  held 
together  by  withes  formed  from  the  bark  of  a  hickory  sapling.  He 
was  very  plainly  clothed,  his  knee-buckles  were  loosened,  and  negli 
gence  generally  pervaded  his  dress.  About  the  same  time,  an  addition 
of  three  or  four  young  gentlemen  was  made  to  their  number,  most,  if 
not  all  of  them,  of  the  legal  profession.  As  soon  as  they  became  con 
veniently  accommodated,  the  conversation  was  turned  by  one  of  the 
young  gentlemen  upon  an  eloquent  address  which  had  that  day  been 
delivered  at  the  bar.  It  was  replied,  by  another  of  them,  that  he  had 
also  that  day  listened  to  eloquence,  no  doubt  equal,  from  the  pulpit. 
Something  like  a  sarcastic  rejoinder  was  made  to  the  eloquence  of  the 
pulpit,  and  a  warm  and  able  altercation  ensued,  in  which  the  merits 
of  Christianity  became  the  subject  of  discussion.  From  six  o'clock 
until  eleven,  the  young  champions  wielded  the  sword  of  argument, 
adducing  with  ingenuity  and  ability  everything  which  could  be  said 
for  and  against  it.  During  this  protracted  period,  the  old  gentleman 
listened  with  all  the  meekness  and  modesty  of  a  child,  as  if  he  was 
adding  new  information  to  the  stores  of  his  mind ;  or  he  might  be 
measuring  their  minds  and  observing  the  extent  of  their  energies, 
or  looking  forward  to  the  state  of  the  country,  should  it  be  governed 
by  the  principles  of  infidelity ;  or,  still  more  likely,  he  was  collecting 
an  argument  which,  characteristic  of  himself,  no  art  would  be  able  to 
elude,  and  no  force  resist.  At  last,  one  of  the  young  men,  remarking, 
that  it  was  impossible  to  combat  with  long  and  established  prejudices, 
whirled  round,  and  with  some  familiarity,  exclaimed,  "  Well,  my  old 
gentleman,  what  think  you  of  these  things?"  If  a  streak  of  vivid 
lightning  had  at  that  moment  crossed  the  room,  their  amazement  could 
not  have  been  greater  than  it  was  with  what  followed. 

The  old  gentleman  began  to  speak,  and  the  most  eloquent  and  un 
answerable  appeal  was  made,  for  nearly  an  hour,  that  they  had  ever 
heard  or  read.  So  perfect  was  his  recollection,  that  every  argument 
urged  against  Christianity,  was  met  in  the  order  in  which  it  was 
advanced.  Hume's  sophistry  on  the  subject  of  Miracles,  was,  if  possi 
ble,  more  completely  answered  than  it  had  already  been  done  by  Dr. 
Campbell;  and  withal,  there  was  so  much  simplicity  and  energy, 
pathos  and  sublimity,  that  no  one  could  utter  a  word  in  reolv. 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

An  attempt  to  describe  the  result,  would  be  to  try  to  paint  the  sun 
beams.  It  was  now  a  matter  of  inquiry  and  curiosity,  who  the  old 
gentleman  was.  One  or  two  supposed  it  was  the  eloquent  preacher 
of  whom  they  had  heard, — but  no, — it  was  JOHN  MARSHALL, — the 
Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States. 

Besides  his  judicial  labors,  Judge  MARSHALL  contributed  valuable 
additions  to  the  historical  and  biographical  literature  of  the  country. 
He  was  author  of  the  "  Life  of  Washington,"  of  which  the  first  edi 
tion  was  published  in  1805,  in  five  large  volumes;  and  the  second, 
greatly  improved  and  compressed  into  two  volumes,  in  1832.  "  The 
History  of  the  American  Colonies,"  which  originally  constituted  an 
introductory  part,  was  published  in  a  separate  form  in  1824.  These 
works  have  been  so  long  and  so  favorably  known  to  the  public,  that  it  is 
wholly  unnecessary  to  enter  upon  a  critical  examination  of  them  in 
this  place.  They  have  all  the  leading  features  which  ought  to  dis 
tinguish  historical  compositions ;  fidelity,  accuracy,  impartiality, 
dignity  of  narrative,  and  simplicity  and  purity  of  style.  "  The  Life 
of  Washington"  is  indeed  entitled  to  a  very  high  rank,  as  it  was 
prepared  from  a  diligent  perusal  of  the  original  papers  of  that  great 
man,  which  were  submitted  to  the  liberal  use  of  his  biographer. 
Probably  no  person  could  have  brought  to  so  difficult  a  task  more 
various  and  apt  qualifications.  The  Chief  Justice  had  served  through 
a  great  part  of  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  was  familiar  with  most  of 
the  scenes  of  Washington's  exploits.  He  had  long  enjoyed  his  per 
sonal  confidence,  and  felt  the  strongest  admiration  of  his  talents  and 
virtues.  He  was  also  an  early  actor  in  the  great  political  controversies, 
which  after  the  Revolutionary  war  agitated  the  whole  country,  and 
ended  in  the  establishment  of  the  national  constitution.  He  was  a 
decided  supporter  of  the  administration  of  Washington,  and  a  leader 
among  his  able  advocates.  The  principles  and  the  measures  of  that 
administration  had  his  unqualified  approbation;  and  he  at  all  times 
maintained  them  in  his  public  life  with  a  sobriety  and  uniformity, 
which  marked  him  out  as  the  fittest  example  of  the  excellence  of  that 
school  of  patriots  and  statesmen.  If  to  these  circumstances  are  added 
his  own  peculiar  cast  of  mind,  his  deep  sagacity,  his  laborious  diligence> 
his  native  candor,  and  lofty  sense  of  duty,  it  could  scarcely  be  doubted, 
that  his  "Life  of  Washington"  would  be  invaluable  for  the  truth  of 
its  facts  and  the  accuracy  and  completeness  of  its  narrative.  And  such 
has  been,  and  will  continue  to  be  its  reputation. 

18 


L 


IN  presenting  to  th 

-hould  ai  -miform  ap] 

of  party 

sometimes  award  us  bu 
to  pursue  our  course  with  stri 

.in  an  elevated  rank  in  popular  favor,  i; 
ins  and  acts  are  open  to  certain  scrutiny  and  free  re; 

d  of  more  than  ordinary  merit.     And  we  believe  1 1 
public  opinion  decidedly  with  us,  when  we  say,  that  it  has 
<o  the  lot  of  few  to  occupy  as  various  and  \m\ 
m  the  repvr 

?  sketch. 

^s  were  amon^  the 

• 

a 

in   Oh: 


to  W: 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

and  boats  on  their  passage  down  the  Ohio.  This  law,  interposing 
the  arm  of  the  state,  baffled  a  project  which  was  generally  believed 
to  have  been  of  a  revolutionary  character,  and  intended  to  divide  the 
west  from  the  east.  The  same  pen  drafted  the  address  to  Mr.  Jeffer 
son,  which  unfolded  the  views  of  the  Ohio  legislature  on  this 
momentous  subject. 

In  1807,  Mr.  CASS  was  appointed  marshal  of  the  state,  which  office 
he  resigned  in  1813.  In  1812,  he  volunteered  his  services  in  the 
force  which  was  called  out  to  join  the  army  under  General  William 
Hull,  and  marched  to  Dayton,  where  he  was  elected  colonel  of  the  3d 
regiment  of  Ohio  volunteers.  Having  to  break  through  an  almost 
trackless  wilderness,  the  army  suffered  much  on  its  route  to  Detroit, 
ind  it  was  necessary  that  the  officers  of  the  volunteers  should  be 
exemplars  in  fatigue  and  privations,  lest  the  men,  unused  to  military 
discipline,  should  turn  back  in  discouragement.  Colonel  CASS  was 
among  the  most  urgent  for  an  invasion  of  the  Canadian  province 
Immediately  after  the  army  arrived  at  Detroit ;  but  General  Hull  did 
not  cross  the  river  until  after  the  lapse  of  several  days,  and  thereby 
lost  all  the  advantages  of  a  prompt  and  decisive  movement.  The 
advanced  detachment  was  commanded  by  Colonel  CASS,  and  he  was 
the  first  man  who  landed,  in  arms,  on  the  enemy's  shore  after  the 
declaration  of  war.  On  entering  Canada,  General  Hull  distributed  a 
proclamation  among  the  inhabitants,  which,  at  the  time,  had  much 
notoriety,  and  was  generally  ascribed  to  Colonel  CASS  :  it  is  now 
known  that  he  wrote  it.  Whatever  opinions  may  have  been  enter 
tained  of  the  inglorious  descent  from  promise  to  fulfilment,  it  was 
generally  regarded  as  a  high  spirited  and  eloquent  document.  Colonel 
CASS  soon  dislodged  the  British  posted  at  the  bridge  over  the  Canards. 
There  he  maintained  his  ground,  in  expectation  that  the  army  would 
advance  and  follow  up  the  success,  by  striking  at  Maiden ;  but  he 
vvas  disappointed  by  the  indecision  of  the  general,  who  ordered  the 
detachment  to  return. 

In  all  the  timorous  and  inefficient  measures  which  followed, 
Colonel  CASS  had  no  responsible  participation.  His  known  disap 
probation  of  the  course  pursued,  made  him  an  unwelcome  counsellor 
at  head  quarters.  When  the  army  capitulated  he  was  not  present ; 
but  the  detachment  with  which  he  was  serving,  under  Colonel 
M' Arthur,  was  included,  and  being  unable  to  retreat  by  the  imprac 
ticable  route  behind  it,  submitted,  and  was  embarked  for  Ohio. 
Colonel  CASS  immediately  repaired  to  Washington,  and  made  a  report 
In  the  following  spring  he  was  exchanged  and 


LEWIS  CASS. 

appointed  colonel  of  the  27th  regiment  of  infantry,  and  soon  aftei 
was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  brigadier  general.  He  joined  General 
Harrison  at  Seneca,  and  crossing  Lake  Erie  with  him,  after  Perry's 
victory,  was  present  in  the  pursuit  of  Proctor,  and  participated  in  the 
triumph  at  the  Moravian  towns.  The  north-western  campaign  being 
happily  terminated,  General  CASS  was  left  in  command  of  Michigan 
arid  the  upper  province  of  Canada.  His  head  quarters  were  at  Detroit, 
and  he  thus  became  the  military  guardian  of  a  people  over  whom  he 
was  soon  (October  9, 1813,)  called  to  preside  as  civil  governor.  In  July. 
1814.  he  was  associated  with  General  Harrison  in  a  commission  to 
treat  (at  Greenville,  Ohio,)  with  the  Indians,  who  had  taken  part 
against  the  United  States  during  the  war.  A  treaty  of  pacification 
was  formed, — comparative  tranquillity  was  restored  to  the  frontiers, 
and  a  large  body  of  Indians  accompanied  Governor  CASS  to  Detroit, 
as  auxiliaries.  At  one  period,  Michigan  was  left  with  only  one  com 
pany  of  regular  soldiers  for  its  defence,  and  that  at  the  time  consisted 
of  twenty-seven  men.  With  this  inadequate  force,  and  the  local 
militia,  the  governor  was,  for  a  time,  left  to  defend  the  territory  against 
the  hostile  Indians,  who  were  constantly  hovering  around  Detroit. 

In  1815,  after  the  termination  of  the  war,  Governor  CASS  moved 
his  family  to  Detroit.  Michigan  had  suffered  greatly  during  the  war; 
Detroit  exhibited  a  scene  of  devastation.  Scarcely  a  family,  when  it 
resumed  its  domestic  establishment,  found  more  than  the  remnants 
of  former  wealth  and  comforts.  Laws  had  become  silent,  and  morals 
had  suffered  in  the  general  wreck,  and  it  required  great  prudence 
and  an  uncommon  share  of  practical  wisdom  to  lead  back  a  people 
thus  disorganised,  to  habits  of  industry  and  order.  The  civil  govern 
ment  was  established,  and  such  laws  enacted  as  could  be  most  easily 
carried  into  effect.  The  legislative  power  being  placed  in  the  hands 
of  the  governor  and  judges,  rendered  it  a  delicate  task  to  aid  in  the 
enactment  of  laws  which  were  to  be  enforced  by  the  same  will;  but  it 
was  performed  with  decision  and  enlightened  discrimination. 

The  Indian  relations  were  likewise  to  be  readjusted  throughout  the 
western  frontier.  War  had  ruptured,  or  weakened  every  tie  which 
had  previously  connected  the  tribes  with  our  government.  By  deci 
sive,  but  kind  measures,  the  hollow  truce  which  alone  existerl,  was 
converted  into  a  permanent  peace,  and  they  returned,  by  degrees,  to 
their  hunting  grounds  and  usual  places  of  resort,  with  a  general 
disposition  to  live  in  amity  and  quiet. 

During  the  same  year,  Governor  CASS  was  associated  with  General 
M' Arthur  to  treat  with  the  Indians  at  Fort  Meigs.  The  north- 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

western  part  of  Ohio  was  acquired  at  this  time.  The  following  yeai 
he  was  engaged  in  the  same  duty  at  St.  Mary's,  to  carry  into  effect, 
with  certain  modifications,  the  treaty  of  Fort  Meigs,  and  for  the 
acquisition  of  land  in  Indiana.  In  1 819  he  assisted  in  the  treaty  held 
at  Sagano,  by  which  large  relinquishments  were  obtained  from  the 
Indians  in  Michigan.  In  all  these  negotiations,  Governor  CASS 
acted  on  the  principle  of  frankness  and  fair  reciprocity. 

Two  events  occurred  this  year  in  Michigan,  which  gave  a  new 
aspect  to  her  hopes  and  promises  of  prosperity.  One  was  the  privi 
lege  of  electing  a  delegate  to  congress ;  the  other  was  the  sale  of 
public  lands  within  the  territory.  No  one  exerted  himself  with 
more  zeal  to  effect  these  improvements  than  the  governor,  as  he  was 
convinced  that  the  introduction  of  the  elective  franchise  among  the 
people,  would  elevate  their  political  character ;  and  that  by  the  sale 
of  the  public  land  the  population  and  prosperity  of  the  country  would 
be  rapidly  advanced. 

In  1820,  an  expedition  was  planned  by  Governor  CASS,  under  the 
sanction  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  then  secretary  of  war,  the  object  of  which 
was  to  pass  through  Lake  Superior,  cross  the  country  to  the  Missis 
sippi,  explore  the  sources  of  that  river,  and  establish  an  intercourse 
with  the  Indians,  on  that  extensive  route.  The  party  combined  per 
sons  of  science,  who  were  capable  of  ascertaining  the  physical 
character  of  the  country,  and  of  making  an  instructive  report,  among 
whom  were  Mr.  Schoolcraft,  and  Captain  Douglass  of  the  corps  of 
engineers.  A  preliminary  object  was,  to  inform  the  Indians  at  the 
Sault  de  St.  Marie  of  the  intention  of  government  to  establish  a  military 
post  at  that  point,  and  to  determine  the  site.  On  his  arrival  there, 
Governor  CASS  assembled  the  Indians  and  made  known  the  object  in 
view.  Being  under  the  influence  of  a  chief  who  was  notoriously 
disaffected  towards  the  United  States,  they  heard  the  proposition  with 
evident  ill  will,  and  broke  up  the  council  with  every  appearance  of 
hostile  intentions.  They  returned  to  their  encampment,  immediately 
transported  their  women  and  children  over  the  river,  and  raised  a 
British  flag,  as  if  in  token  of  defiance.  Governor  CASS  at  once  adopted 
the  only  course  suited  to  the  emergency.  Taking  only  an  interpreter 
with  him,  he  advanced  to  the  Indian  encampment  and  pulled  down, 
with  his  own  hands,  the  anglo-savage  flag,  directing  the  interpreter 
to  inform  the  Indians  that  they  were  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
United  States,  and  that  no  other  flag  than  theirs  must  be  allowed  to 
wave  over  it.  Having  given  this  bold  and  practical  rebuke,  he 
returned  to  his  party,  taking  with  him  the  flag,  and  leaving  the 


LEWIS  CASS. 

Indians  to  further  reflection.  The  moral  influence  of  this  opportune 
and  seemingly  perilous  step,  was  immediately  seen ;  new  overtures 
were  made  by  the  Indians,  which  led  to  an  amicable  and  satisfactory 
adjustment.  The  course  of  the  expedition,  and  most  of  its  scientific 
results,  have  been  published  in  Mr.  Schoolcraft's  interesting  journal. 

In  1821,  the  services  of  Governor  CASS  were  again  brought  into 
requisition  by  the  government,  to  assist  in  another  treaty,  to  be  nego 
tiated  at  Chicago.  He  embarked  at  Detroit,  in  a  birch  canoe, 
ascended  the  Maumee,  crossed  into  the  Wabash,  descended  that  river 
to  the  Ohio,  went  down  the  Ohio  to  the  Mississippi,  and  ascended 
that  and  the  Illinois  to  Chicago.  By  the  treaty  formed  there,  all  the 
country  in  Michigan,  not  before  ceded,  south  of  Grand  river,  was 
acquired. 

In  1823,  Governor  CASS  concluded  an  arrangement  \vith  the  Dela 
ware  Indians,  by  which  they  ceded  some  valuable  tracts  on  the 
Muskingum,  in  Ohio. 

In  1825,  he  proceeded  to  Prairie  du  Chien,  where,  in  conjunction 
with  General  Clark,  a  treaty  of  general  pacification  was  concluded 
among  the  north-westerly  tribes.  In  his  tour  of  1820,  Governor 
CASS  had  observed  that  one  abundant  source  of  contention  among 
the  Indians  arose  from  uncertain  or  undefined  boundaries.  In  order 
to  remove  this  cause,  as  many  as  practicable  of  the  tribes  were  col 
lected  at  this  time,  in  order  to  ascertain,  by  tradition  and  custom, 
and  establish  by  general  consent,  the  limits  of  each  dominion.  Much 
difficulty  attended  this  negotiation,  as  each  tribe  apprehended  a  dimi 
nution  of  its  own  power,  and  an  increase  of  its  neighbor's.  But  the 
objects  of  the  treaty,  were,  in  part,  attained.  A  common  acceptance 
of  certain  geographical  or  other  known  boundaries,  was  obtained. 
The  beneficial  effects  of  this  important  treaty  will  be  accruing 
with  each  coming  year.  Although  many  may  dissent  from  the  terms 
of  the  treaty,  for  a  time,  yet  lines  of  separation,  defined  with 
so  much  solemnity,  and  by  such  general  consent,  will  at  last 
be  appealed  to  as  decisive,  and  become  unalterably  fixed.  War 
will  still  prevail,  but  border  contests,  the  most  inveterate  and 
sanguinary,  may  be  appeased.  The  following  year  he  again 
traversed  the  great  lake  to  fulfil  the  benevolent  purposes  of  govern 
ment.  A  treaty  was  held,  at  Fond  du  Lac,  with  those  tribes  who 
were  too  remote  from  Prairie  du  Chien,  to  have  met  there.  The 
great  object  of  these  treaties  was  to  remove  the  causes  of  contention 
between  the  tribes,  by  inducing  them  to  accept  of  certain  geographi 
cal  or  other  known  boundaries,  as  the  limits  of  each  dominion.  Colonei 

5 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

M'Kenney,  who  was  associated  with  Governor  CASS  on  this  occasion, 
has  given  a  lively  and  picturesque  account  of  the  excursion.  Another 
treaty  was  made  on  the  Wabash,  on  their  return  from  Lake  Superior, 
by  which  the  Indians  ceded  a  large  tract  of  land  in  Indiana. 

In  1827,  treaties  were  negotiated  at  Green  Bay  and  at  St.  Joseph's: 
Governor  CASS  was  an  agent  in  both.  On  his  arrival  at  Gr,een  Bay, 
instead  of  finding  the  Winnebagoes,  who  were  to  have  been  parties 
in  the  negotiation,  he  learned  that  they  were  collecting  in  hostile 
bodies,  for  the  purpose  of  waging  war  against  the  whites.  With  his 
usual  promptitude  he  adapted  his  course  to  the  emergency.  Embark 
ing  in  a  birch  canoe  he  ascended  the  Fox  river,  crossed  the  Portage, 
and  had  partly  descended  the  Ouisconsin,  when  he  perceived  an 
encampment  of  Winnebagoes  on  its  bank.  To  show  his  confidence 
in  them,  he  landed  alone,  and  approached  the  wigwams ;  but  the 
Indians  refused  to  hold  any  communication  with  him.  After  much 
fruitless  endeavor  to  conciliate,  he  returned  towards  his  canoe,  when 
a  young  Indian  snapped  his  rifle  at  his  back.  Whether  the  piece 
was  loaded  and  missed  fire ;  or  the  act  was  an  empty,  but  significant 
token  of  enmity,  is  not  known. 

Pursuing  his  course  down  the  river,  he  reached  Prairie  du  Chien, 
and  found  the  settlement  there  in  a  state  of  extreme  alarm.  A  large 
boat  on  the  Mississippi  had  been  attacked  by  a  numerous  band,  and 
escaped  capture  only  by  a  gallant  but  bloody  defence  ;  and  a  whole 
family  had  been  murdered  and  scalped  on  the  skirts  of  the  village. 
Having  organised  the  inhabitants  in  the  best  manner,  for  their  own 
defence,  there  being  no  garrison  there  at  the  time,  he  descended  the 
Mississippi  to  St.  Louis,  where  the  means  of  defence  were  to  be 
obtained,  and  at  his  suggestion  a  large  detachment  of  United  States 
troops  was  moved  up  the  river,  in  time  to  prevent  further  bloodshed. 
In  the  mean  time  Governor  CASS  returned  to  the  bay,  in  the  same 
canoe,  by  the  way  of  the  Illinois  and  Lake  Michigan,  having  made  a 
circuit  of  about  eighteen  hundred  miles,  with  unprecedented  rapidity. 
His  celerity  of  movement,  and  the  alacrity  with  which  the  United 
States  troops  seconded  his  call,  probably  averted  a  war  that  might 
have  embraced  the  whole  north-west  frontier.  A  negotiation  followed. 
\vhich  restored  tranquillity.  The  apparent  violence  offered  to  him  by 
the  Indian  on  the  Ouisconsin,  is  the  only  instance  of  that  nature 
which  had  occurred  during  his  long  and  intimate  intercourse  with 
he  Indians. 

In  1828  another  treaty  was  held  by  him  at  Green  Bay;  and 
another  at  St.  Joseph's,  by  which  a  cession  was  procured  for  Indiana. 


LEWIS  CASS. 

In  these  various  treaties,  Governor  CASS  had  been  instrumental  in 
acquiring  for  the  United  States,  and  rescuing  from  the  wilderness, 
for  the  great  agricultural  purposes  of  the  country,  many  millions  of 
acres  of  land  ;  and  in  a  manner  which  ought  to  leave  no  consciousness 
on  his  mind,  that  he  has  aggravated  the  lot  of  a  single  tribe  of  Indians. 

The  first  council  of  Michigan  met  in  1822.  This  body  relieved  the 
governor  and  judges  of  their  legislative  duties,  and  gave  the  govern 
ment  of  the  territory  a  more  republican  form.  Governor  C ASS'S 
messages  to  the  several  councils,  convened  under  his  administration, 
were  always  written  in  a  chaste  and  dignified  style ;  indeed,  all  the 
public  documents  that  came  from  his  pen,  while  governor  of  the 
territory,  may  be  regarded  as  good  models  of  executive  composition, 
and  exhibit  a  highly  cultivated  literary  taste.  But  his  literary  repu 
tation  rests  on  a  broader  and  more  appropriate  basis  than  his  guber 
natorial  writings. 

Sometime  in  the  year  1825,  John  Dunn  Hunter's  narrative 
appeared,  which,  at  the  time,  attracted  much  attention.  Governor 
CASS,  in  the  course  of  his  tours  through  the  west,  had  satisfied  him 
self  that  this  work  was  an  imposture.  In  determining  to  expose  it  to 
the  world,  his  mind  was  led  to  dwell  on  the  ample  subject  of  Indian 
character,  language,  and  condition,  and  he  wrote  the  article  which 
appeared  in  the  fiftieth  number  of  the  North  American  Review.  The 
subject  was  full  of  interest,  and  was  written  in  a  style  uncommonly 
earnest  and  eloquent,  and  the  public  was  gratified  to  find  that  a  theme 
so  interesting  and  important,  had  engaged  the  attention  of  so  culti 
vated  and  liberal  a  mind.  Another  article  of  his,  presenting  the 
aborigines  under  new  aspects,  appeared  in  the  fifty-fifth  number  of  the 
same  periodical.  This  article,  which  was  altogether  of  an  historical 
and  statistical  character,  attracted  equal  attention  with  its  precursor. 

Sometime  in  1828,  a  historical  society  was  formed  in  Michigan, 
of  which  Governor  CASS  was  elected  the  president.  He  delivered  the 
first  address  before  it  in  1829.  This  address,  embodying  the  early 
history  of  Michigan,  bVings  it  down  to  the  period  when  the  United 
States  came  into  possession  of  it.  Its  publication  excited  a  spirit  of 
research  and  inquiry,  which  has  already  produced  the  most  benefi 
cial  results. 

In  1830,  Governor  CASS  was  invited  by  the  alumni  of  Hamilton 
college,  New  York,  to  deliver  an  address  at  their  anniversary  meeting 
He  accepted  the  invitation,  and  in  the  address  which  he  delivered, 
displayed  an  affluence  of  reading  and  reflection  which  proved  his 
nabitual  acquaintance  with  most  of  the  departments  of  human  know 

1  VOL.  1.— N 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS 

ledge.  From  that  college  he  subsequently  received  the  honorary  de 
gree  of  LL.  D.  He  had  previously  been  admitted  an  honorary  member 
of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  in  Philadelphia ;  of  the  New 
Hampshire,  Rhode  Island,  and  Indiana  Historical  Societies;  of  the 
American  Antiquarian  Society ;  and  of  the  Columbian  Institute. 

In  July,  1831,  having  been  appointed  secretary  of  war  by  President 
Jackson,  Governor  CASS  resigned  his  office  as  governor  of  the  terri 
tory,  after  having  administered  it  for  eighteen  years.  When  he  began 
his  administration,  he  found  the  country  small  in  population,  without 
resources,  and  almost  sunk  under  the  devastations  of  war.  He  left  it 
with  a  wide-spread  population,  and  thriving  with  unprecedented  pros 
perity.  This  auspicious  condition  may  not  all  be  attributed  to  executive 
Instrumentality.  But  an  administration,  impartial,  vigilant,  pervading, 
and  intelligent,  may  be  fairly  supposed  to  have  shed  a  happy  influence 
on  all  around.  It  will  be  long  remembered  in  Michigan,  where  its 
termination  was  universally  regretted. 

The  duties  of  the  war  department  were  discharged  by  General  CASS, 
at  two  of  the  most  critical  periods  of  our  history,  with  consummate  skill 
and  tact.  During  the  state-rights  issue  in  South  Carolina,  he  was  the 
chief  person  engaged  in  sending  a  deputation  from  the  old  dominion  to 
mediate  between  the  state  and  the  general  government ;  while  his 
instructions  to  General  Scott,  who  had  been  sent  down  to  South  Caro 
lina  by  General  Jackson,  expressly  prohibited  all  interference  with  the 
civil  institutions  of  the  state.  He  exhibited  the  same  high  regard  for 
the  rights  of  the  states  in  the  contest  between  the  general  government 
and  Governor  Gayle,  of  Alabama,  on  the  subject  of  the  intrusion  on  the 
Indians.  His  orders  were  again  given  to  the  commanding  officer  to 
obey  the  civil  authorities  in  all  respects,  and  to  admit  any  state  officer 
with  process  into  his  fort,  to  execute  the  law.  Indeed  the  testimony 
may  be  borne  to  General  CASS,  that,  contrary  to  military  leaders  in 
general,  he  has  always  placed  the  civil  authority  above  the  military. 

In  October,  1836,  General  CASS  was  appointed  minister  from  our 
government  to  France,  an  important  post,  which  he  filled  till  Decem 
ber,  1842.  Perhaps  no  minister,  since  the  time  of  Doctor  Franklin, 
enjoyed  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the  government  and  people  of 
France  to  as  high  a  degree  as  the  General ;  none  could  be  more  uni 
versally  admired  for  his  love  of  freedom ;  and  none  therefore  could  be 
better  enabled  to  render  essential  services  to  his  own  country.  He 
was  consulted  on  every  important  question  of  state,  and  his  opinions 
regarded  with  the  highest  deference.  Thus  he  was  enabled  by  the 
force  of  argument,  and  the  weight  of  his  high  character,  to  break  down 


LEWIS  CASS. 

the  quintuple  treaty,  a.ready  concluded  and  partially  signed  by  the 
five  great  powers  of  Europe — England,  France,  Russia,  Austria  and 
Prussia — which  would  have  constituted  England  permanent  mistress 
of  the  sea,  by  giving  her  the  control  over  the  police  of  the  ocean. 
General  CASS  caused  this  treaty  for  the  Right  of  Search,  and  the 
impunity  of  insulting  our  flag  on  the  high  waters,  to  be  annulled,  and 
another  treaty  to  be  substituted  for  it,  in  virtue  of  which  our  own  ships 
of  war  were  charged  with  the  execution  of  our  own  laws. 

On  his  return  to  the  United  States,  General  CASS  was  nominated  for 
the  presidency,  and  received  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  votes  at  the 
Baltimore  convention  in  1844;  but  Mr.  Polk  received  the  final  nomi 
nation,  and  General  CASS  at  once  came  forward  in  support  of  the 
nominee,  addressing  the  people  at  the  west  in  his  behalf.  In  the  same 
year  he  was  elected  a  United  States  Senator  from  Michigan,  and  took 
his  seat  in  1845,  with  Mr.  Polk  for  president.  In  the  session  of  1845- 
46,  he  rendered  most  important  services  on  the  Oregon  question,  and 
adhered  to  the  last  to  his  firm  conviction  that  the  United  States  were 
lawfully  entitled  to  the  whole  territory  up  to  latitude  fifty-four  degrees 
and  forty  minutes.  The  probability  is  that  England  would  never  have 
conceded  the  boundary  of  forty-nine,  which  was  finally  agreed  on,  but 
for  his  firmness.  During  the  Mexican  war,  the  General  supported  Mr. 
Polk's  administration,  being  chairman  of  the  military  committee  of  the 
senate. 

In  1848  General  CASS  was  nominated  for  the  presidency  against 
General  Taylor,  then  fresh  from  the  battle-fields  of  Mexico,  and  sup 
ported,  in  some  states,  as  a  democratic  candidate  for  that  high  office. 
He  received  the  electoral  votes  of  half  the  states  of  the  Union, 
even  though  a  portion  of  the  Democracy  organized  on  a  sectional  issue, 
and  voted  for  an  independent  candidate-  In  1852,  he  was  again  before 
the  Baltimore  Convention,  and  received  a  larger  number  of  votes  than 
any  other  man,  but  the  choice  ultimately  fell  on  General  Pierce.  But  his 
greatest  triumph  was  achieved  during  the  session  of  congress  immedi 
ately  following  the  election  of  General  Taylor ;  when  pending  the 
agitation  of  the  slavery  question,  which  threatened  our  domestic  peace 
and  the  perpetuity  of  the  Union,  he  led  on  to  victory  by  inducing  the 
legislature  to  adopt  the  platform  on  which  he  had  stood  on  the  Presi 
dential  canvass.  He  was  also  the  first  statesman  of  the  North  who 
declared  what  was  called  the  Wilmot  Proviso  unconstitutional ;  his 
speech  was  unanswerable,  and  tended  greatly  to  restore  the  threatened 
peace  of  the  country.  In  voting  against  the  Wilmot  Proviso,  he  acted 
in  opposition  to  the  instructions  from  his  state  to  vote  for  it ;  but  he 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

was  fully  prepared  to  resign  his  seat  in  the  senate  and  return  to 
private  life,  rather  than  to  act  so  as,  in  his  judgment,  would  do 
violence  to  the  Constitution,  and  injure  the  rights  of  his  Southern 
brethren.  His  arguments,  however,  convinced  the  people  of  his 
state  that  they  had  been  in  the  wrong,  and  .the  legislature  of 
Michigan  repealed  the  instructions  before  the  vote  on  the  meas 
ure  of  adjustment  was  finally  taken  in  the  United  States  Seriate. 

General  CASS  was  re-elected  in  1851  to  the  United  States 
Senate,  where  the  position  was  again  honored  by  his  faithful 
ness  in  statesmanship.  In  1857  he  received  from  President 
Buchanan  the  appointment  of  Secretary  of  State.  For  almost 
four  years  he  discharged  the  duties  of  a  most  responsible  office 
in  a  manner  worthy  of  his  distinguished  abilities.  No  act  of 
his  long  life  will  be  regarded  by  a  loyal  people  as  more  to  his 
honor  than  his  resignation,  prompted,  as  it  was,  by  integrity 
and  patriotism.  It  occurred  December  14,  1860,  after  a  long 
and  excited  session  of  the  Cabinet,  for  the  reason  that  the 
President  declined  to  send  men  and  provisions  to  sustain  Major- 
General  Anderson  and  his  little  force,  then  holding  the  forts  in 
Charleston  harbor.  Secretary  CASS  made  no  secret  of  his  con 
victions,  that  this  refusal  was  unjust  to  those  noble  defenders, 
and  would  prove  a  fatal  mistake,  fraught  with  the  woes  of  war. 
For  this  denial  of  timely  help  he  would  not  be  responsible ;  in 
it  he  would  not  be  implicated;  and  his  resignation  was  his 
emphatic  protest  against  the  decision  of  the  Cabinet.  His  con 
science  and  his  country  have  sustained  him  in  his  course. 

In  a  quiet  way  he  retired  to  his  home  in  Detroit.  At  an 
advanced  age  he  retained  a  remarkable  capacity  for  labor,  fond 
ness  for  study,  and  love  for  hospitality.  He  had  confirmed  his 
health  by  the  same  total  abstinence  from  all  that  intoxicates, 
which  he  recommended  to  the  Indians  when  he  was  the  Governor 
of  Michigan,  and  which  he  sought  to  introduce  in  the  army 
when  he  was  Secretary  of  War. 

The  Honorable  LEWIS  CASS  died  at  his  residence  in  Detroit. 
June  17, 1866,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-three  years,  beloved 
in  his  large  circle  of  friends,  revered  as  a  man  of  Christian  prin 
ciples,  and  honored  throughout  the  land  as  a  venerable  states 
man, —  almost  the  last  of  those  who  belonged  to  the  past  politi 
cal  history  of  the  country. 

10 


Drawn  from  life  and  Engraved  In-  J.B.Lcm<ac 


ANDK 


ANDREW  JA>  :  in  Waxsaw, 

ited 

from  Irelani;  the 

birth  of  l  i 
mot* 

would  be  of  service  to  him  in  * 
by  his  choosing  the  clerical  profession.     He 
upon  the  study  of  the  languages,  when  the  revol^ 
involved  his  native  spot  in  the  commotion,  ahd  at  the  age  of  fourteen 
he  abandoned  school  for  the  colonial  camp.     In  consequence  of  the 
smallness  of  their  number,  the  body  of  troops   K  he  was 

attn  :it   soon 

iy  were  sur- 

pri<-  and  compelled  to  surren 

der,  fate  of  their  companions, 

but  "rit,  until 

.»  other 

had  j  •;•-.  <ur- 

viving  broth  aac- 

quence  of  a  • 
for  refusing  to 

;  the  ra  •<-?  '^fir»»r,  e: 

o,  only  by  his  dexterity  in  rei-« 
sword  which  was  aimed  with  fury  nt 

Having  thus  become  heir  to  the  vhnlr  of" 

by  his  father,  be  prosecuted  his  educau-m.     In   ]  ?tced 

the  study  of  the  law  in  Salisbury.  N.o?'h  »       •;   ;       >v.u 
ractice  in   17Sft,  and  removed    u< 

prising  eX|)eriment  iti  tl- 

tiwww.     Professional  success  immediately  attended  him,  in  conse- 
ce  of  the.  singular  condition  of  the  affairs  of  the  settlers      M 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

of  the  young  adventurers,  who  had  traded  on  credit  with  the  mer 
chants  of  the  town,  were  unable,  or  indisposed  to  fulfil  their  engage 
ments,  and  had  retained  the  only  practitioner  of  the  law  then  in 
Nashville,  as  their  counsellor.  The  creditors  had  consequently  no 
means  of  prosecuting  their  claims;  but  the  moment  of  JACKSON'S 
arrival  they  availed  themselves  of  his  aid,  and  on  the  very  next  day 
the  commenced  seventy  suits.  This  auspicious  opening  introduced 
him  to  a  respectable  business.  He  was  soon  after  appointed  attorney 
general  of  the  district.  The  depredations  of  the  Indians  upon  the 
new  country  frequently  called  him  into  active  military  service  with 
his  fellow  citizens  ;  among  whom  he  was  distinguished  by  his  energy 
and  vaior.  Thus  conspicuous,  he  was  selected,  in  1796,  as  a  dele 
gate  to  the  convention  for  forming  a  constitution  for  the  state  ;  and 
was  in  the  same  year  elected  to  the  lower  house  of  congress.  In  the 
year  following,  he  was  delegated  to  the  national  senate,  in  which  he 
took  his  seat,  but  resigned  at  the  close  of  the  session,  alleging  his 
distaste  for  the  intrigues  of  politics.  Within  that  period  he  was 
chosen  major  general  of  the  Tennessee  militia,  and  held  the  office 
until  called  to  the  same  rank  in  the  United  States'  service,  in  1814. 

Upon  his  retirement  from  the  national  legislature,  General  JACKSON 
was  appointed  to  the  bench  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  state,  an  office 
which  he  accepted  with  diffidence  and  reluctance,  and  soon  resigned, 
retiring  from  public  life  to  his  farm  on  the  Cumberland  river,  near 
Nashville.  Here  he  passed  several  years  in  the  pursuits  of  agricul 
ture,  until  summoned  by  the  second  war  with  Great  Britain  to  take 
an  active  part  in  the  defence  of  the  country.  He  proceeded  in  the 
winter  of  1812,  at  the  head  of  twenty-five  hundred  volunteers,  to  the 
duty  assigned  him  by  the  general  government,  of  defending  the  lower 
states,  and  descended  the  Ohio  arid  Mississippi  to  Natchez,  where  he 
had  been  instructed  to  await  further  orders.  The  danger  of  the  anti 
cipated  invasion  being  dispelled,  JACKSON  was  directed  by  the  secre 
tary  of  war  to  disband  his  troops  on  the  spot.  But  a  large  number 
of  his  men  being  then  sick,  and  destitute  of  the  means  of  returning 
home,  he  felt  bound  by  obligations  to  them  and  their  families  to 
lead  them  back,  and  to  disregard  an  order  made  without  the  know 
ledge  of  his  peculiar  circumstances.  This  purpose  he  effected, 
sharing  with  his  men  in  all  the  hardships  of  the  return.  His 
subsequent  representations  to  the  cabinet  were  accepted,  and  his 
course  sanctioned. 

The  Creek  Indians  having  become  allies  of  the  British,  and  per- ' 
petrated  several  massacres,  the  legislature  of  Tennessee  placed  a 


ANDREW  JACKSON. 

force  of  thirty-five  hundred  of  their  militia  under  the  command  of 
JACKSON  to  proceed  against  them.  The  first  attack  upon  the  savages 
was  made  at  Tallad-ega,  on  the  river  Coosa,  where  a  hand  of  a  thou 
sand  Creeks  were  routed  and  dispersed.  In  the  beginning  of  1814. 
another  party  was  defeated  at  Emuckfaw,  and  in  March,  the  general 
proceeded  to  the  village  of  Tohopeka,  or  Horse -shoe,  on  the  Talla- 
poosa,  where  a  long  and  desperate  battle  was  waged.  The  Indians 
screened  themselves  behind  a  long  rampart  of  timbers  and  trunks  ot 
trees,  directing  their  unerring  fire  from  a  double  row  of  port-holes. 
The  contest  was  prolonged  from  the  morning  to  midnight  of  the  27th, 
when  they  were  driven  from  the  entrenchment,  leaving  upwards  of 
five  hundred  of  their  warriors  on  the  field.  JACKSON  determined  to 
proceed  next  to  Hoithlewalec,  a  Creek  town  near  the  junction  of  the 
Coosa  and  Tallapoosa ;  but  the  swelling  of  the  streams  by  recent 
rains  so  much  impeded  his  progress,  that  the  enemy  had  time  to 
escape.  At  the  Hickory  Ground,  however,  near  the  villages,  the 
principal  chiefs  sued  for  peace,  which  was  granted  them  on  condition 
of  their  withdrawing  to  the  neighborhood  of  fort  Williams.  Hostility 
being  checked  in  this  quarter,  the  troops  took  up  their  march  home 
ward  on  the  2 1st  April,  terminating  a  most  severe  service;  during 
which,  the  promptness  and  decision  of  the  commander  maintained 
the  order  and  efficiency  of  the  troops,  (although  menaced  by  mutiny 
and  scarcity  of  provisions,)  and  by  his  celerity  defeating  the  strata 
gems  even  of  Indian  warfare.  "  Within  a  few  days,"  he  observed  to 
his  army  at  the  close  of  the  war,  "you  have  annihilated  the  power 
of  a  nation,  that  for  twenty  years  has  been  the  disturber  of  your 
peace." 

His  services  in  the  campaign  attracted  the  notice  of  government, 
and  he  was  commissioned  a  major  general,  May,  1814.  In  the  same 
year  he  was  named  a  commissioner  with  Colonel  Hawkins,  to  form  a 
treaty  with  the  subdued  tribes,  the  principal  object  of  which  was  to 
prevent  any  intercourse  between  them  and  the  British  and  Spanish 
agents  in  the  Floridas.  This  was  accomplished  at  Alabama  in 
August,  and  the  right  secured  to  the  United  States  of  establishing 
military  posts  in  their  territory. 

While  engaged  in  this  employment,  he  discovered  that  the  Indians 
were  still  encouraged  and  supported  by  the  Spaniards  in  Florida,  and 
that  a  British  officer  was  permitted  to  organize  and  drill  a  body  ol 
British  soldiers  and  fugitive  Creeks  in  Pensacola.  The  remonstrances 
which  JACKSON  addressed  to  the  Spanish  governor  were  contemned. 
He  anticipated  a  movement  against  New  Orleans,  and  announced  the 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

impending  danger  to  the  neighboring  states,  urging  them  to  imme 
diate  and  vigorous  preparation.  He  drew  a  supply  of  volunteers 
from  Tennessee,  and  proceeded  in  person  to  Mobile  to  make  the 
defence  of  that  point.  An  attack  was  soon  commenced  upon  fort 
Bowyer,  which  commands  the  bay  of  Mobile,  by  a  squadron  with  a 
force  under  Colonel  Nicholls,  who  was  repulsed  with'  loss  by  the 
Americans  under  Major  Lawrence.  The  British  retired  into  Pensa- 
cola  to  refit,  and  JACKSON,  who  had  in  vain  requested  permission 
from  the  president  to  attack  that  town,  so  openly  departing  from  its 
neutrality,  determined  to  advance  against  it  upon  his  own  respon 
sibility,  throw  a  force  into  fort  Barrancas,  and  expect  the  result. 
Accordingly,  he  took  possession  of  the  town  with  an  army  of  three 
thousand,  in  the  beginning  of  November,  driving  the  Spaniards  before 
him  after  a  short  but  unavailing  resistance.  Fort  Barrancas  was 
blown  up  by  the  enemy  after  the  surrender  of  the  town,  and  that 
fortress  being  the  main  object  of  capture,  in  order  to  secure  the  com 
mand  of  Pensacola,  JACKSON  did  not  think  it  necessary  to  retain 
Dossession  of  the  town,  and  returned  to  fort  Montgomery. 

The  anxieties  of  the  general  were  now  directed  to  New  Orleans, 
as  the  most  probable  point,  for  the  next  attempt  of  the  hovering  enemy, 
and  he  reached  that  city  on  the  first  of  December,  1814.  The  popu- 
..atlon  of  this  denizen  territory  were  not  easily  excited  to  the  decree 
of  alacrity  required  by  the  exigence,  and  the  principal  dependence  of 
JACKSON  to  meet  a  large  body  of  well-disciplined  English  troops,  was 
upon  the  volunteers  of  Tennessee  and  Kentucky,  whom  he  had  sum 
moned  to  his  aid.  He  at  once  fortified  the  approaches  to  the  city, 
with  the  cooperation  of  Commodore  Patterson,  who  commanded  a 
small  naval  force.  Early  on  the  morning  of  the  14th  December,  the 
enemy,  in  number  about  twelve  hundred,  approached  in  forty-three 
barges,  and  commenced  an  attack  on  the  American  flotilla  lying  in 
lake  Borgne,  consisting  of  five  gun  boats,  and  one  hundred  and 
eighty-two  men.  A  brave  defence  was  made  by  the  gallant,  little 
squadron  for  about  an  hour,  when  the  superior  number  of  the  enemy 
triumphed,  and  the  Americans  were  carried  prisoners  to  Cat  island. 

JACKSON  now  prepared  for  a  more  formidable  attempt,  and  troops 
arid  arms  were  gradually  arriving  to  his  assistance.  At  this  mo 
mentous  juncture,  he  discovered  that  the  safety  of  the  country  was 
exposed  to  the  treachery  of  a  number  of  disaffected  inhabitants  of 
New  Orleans  ;  and  that  the  suspected  might  be  put  under  proper 
lestraint.  he  urged  upon  the  legislature  of  Louisiana  the  necessity  of 
suspending  the  privilege  oi  the  writ  of  hal  eas  corpus.  While  the 


ANDREW  JACKSON. 

measure  was  in  the  slow  process  of  deliberation,  JACKSON  proclaimed 
the  city  to  be  under  martial  law,  superseding  all  civil  authority  by  a 
rigid  military  police. 

On  the  22d,  the  British  secretly  effected  a  landing,  and  reached  the 
banks  of  the  Mississippi,  within  seven  miles  of  the  city.  As  soon  as 
this  was  known,  he  called  upon  Generals  Coffee  and  Carroll  to  join 
him,  and  proceeded  to  meet  the  invaders.  The  hostile  armies  came 
in  sight  of  each  other  near  the  close  of  the  day.  The  number  of  the 
enemy  was  upwards  of  three  thousand,  the  American  force  did  not 
exceed  two  thousand ;  the  latter,  however,  commenced  the  charge, 
and  a  severe  conflict  lasted  until  the  darkness  of  the  night  confused 
the  combatants.  The  British  were  driven  before  our  army  for  nearly 
a  mile,  from  several  successive  intrenchments.  By  continual  acces 
sions  during  the  battle,  the  British  force  was  estimated  to  have 
increased  to  the  number  of  six  thousand ;  the  American  commander 
deeming  it  rash  to  pursue  his  success  at  such  a  hazard,  proceeded  to 
prepare  for  defence  by  throwing  up  a  breastwork  in  front  of  his 
army.  On  the  28th,  these  works  were  attacked  by  the  enemy  under 
their  commander-in-chief.  Sir  Edward  Packenham,  and  were  forced 
to  retire.  Frequent  skirmishes  occurred  between  detached  parties 
for  several  days,  while  the  enemy  were  preparing  for  a  grand  assault. 
On  the  first  of  January,  1815,  they  opened  a  tremendous  discharge 
from  their  batteries  upon  our  lines,  but  the  fire  was  returned  with 
such  success,  that  by  three  o'clock  they  were  silenced. 

On  the  fourth,  a  timely  reinforcement  from  Kentucky  added 
twenty-five  hundred  men  to  the  American  army.  On  the  eighth, 
the  enemy  advanced  in  two  divisions  under  Sir  Edward  Packenham, 
and  owing  to  a  fog,  approached  within  a  short  distance  of  the 
intrenchments  before  they  were  discovered.  A  terrible  and  unceasing 
volley  kept  them  back,  and  Packenham  fell,  fatally  wounded.  The 
British  columns,  sixty  or  seventy  deep,  were  successively  led  on  to 
the  charge  and  broken  by  the  dreadful  havoc  of  the  American  fire, 
until  they  betook  themselves  to  flight.  JACKSON  was  obliged  to 
submit  to  the  mortification  of  withholding  his  men  from  pursuit,  for 
a  large  portion  of  them  were  without  arms,  and  to  venture  with  so 
inferior  a  force  to  a  battle  on  the  open  field  would  have  been  an  unjus 
tifiable  risk.  He  was  compelled,  therefore,  to  remain  in  his  post. 
The  force  of  the  British  in  this  memorable  engagement  was  at  least 
nine  thousand  ;  the  efficient  American  troops  amounted  to  thirty-seven 
hundred.  The  enemy's  loss  in  killed,  wounded,  and  prisoners,  is 

estimated  at  three  thousand,  while  that  of  the  victors  was  but  thirteen 
VOL.  i.— 11  5 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

For  several  days  after  the  battle,  the  British  camp  was  harassed  by  a 
continual  discharge  from  the  batteries,  which  compelled  the  army  to 
withdraw  secretly  to  their  ships  on  the  night  of  the  18th,  and  they 
soon  left  the  coast.  The  general  entered  New  Orleans  with  his  victo 
rious  troops  on  the  20th,  where  he  was  received  with  boundless 
enthusiasm,  and  solemn  thanksgiving  to  Providence  was  offered  in 
public  services  at  the  Cathedral.  Insidious  attempts  were  now  made 
in  New  Orleans  to  destroy  the  strength  of  the  army  by  encouraging 
mutiny  and  desertion.  The  city  being  still  under  martial  law,  JACK 
SON  caused  to  be  arrested  a  member  of  the  legislature  who  had  fur 
nished  the  newspapers  with  articles  of  a  pernicious  tendency.  Appli 
cation  was  made  to  the  district  judge  for  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  to 
be  served  on  the  general,  which  he  granted  in  opposition  to  the 
positive  injunctions  of  JACKSON,  who  promptly  ordered  the  judge  also 
to  be  arrested  and  sent  from  the  city.  Two  days  afterwards,  official 
intelligence  was  received  of  the  conclusion  of  a  treaty  of  peace 
between  the  belligerent  countries.  The  judge  had  no  sooner  resumed 
his  office,  than  JACKSON  was  summoned  to  answer  for  his  contempt 
of  court  in  disregarding  the  writ,  and  in  arresting  the  judicial  officer. 
The  general  appeared  and  vindicated  his  course,  through  his  counsel, 
but  was  fined  in  the  sum  of  one  thousand  dollars.  This  sentence 
excited  universal  indignation,  and  the  amount  of  the  amercement 
was  quickly  contributed  by  the  people ;  but  the  general  had  already 
discharged  it  from  his  own  funds,  and  requested  that  the  other  sum 
should  be  distributed  among  the  relatives  of  those,  who  had  fallen  in 
the  battle. 

The  command  being  committed  to  General  Gaines,  JACKSON  re 
turned  to  his  farm,  where  he  remained  until  the  end  of  1817,  when  he 
was  directed  to  proceed  against  the  Seminole  Indians,  who,  emerging 
from  the  Spanish  territory,  had  committed  repeated  massacres  of  the 
Americans  on  the  frontiers.  At  the  head  of  the  Tennessee  volun 
teers,  who  were  afterwards  joined  by  the  Georgia  militia,  he  pene 
trated  into  Florida,  destroyed  the  retreats  of  the  skulking  savages 
and  fugitive  slaves  who  had  banded  with  them,  and  burned  their 
villages.  Two  Englishmen,  Arbuthnot  and  Ambrister,  were  arrested 
by  his  order,  charged  with  exciting  and  leading  on  the  insurgents. 
They  were  tried  by  a  court  of  thirteen  officers,  found  guilty,  and  in 
pursuance  of  their  sentence,  the  former  was  hung  and  the  other  shot. 
After  placing  a  garrison  in  St.  Marks,  the  general  was  about  returning 
to  Tennessee,  when  he  learned  that  the  dispersed  bands  were  corn- 
Sin  ing  west  of  the  Appalachicola,  under  the  countenance  and  pro- 

G 


ANDREW   JACKSON. 

tection  of  the  governor  of  Pensacola.  During  May,  he,  with  a  force 
of  twelve  hundred,  ranged  the  suspected  district,  and  marched  into 
Pensacola,  of  which  he  took  possession  ;  the  governor  flying  to  fort 
Barrancas,  which  was  also  yielded  on  the  28th.  Two  detachments 
were  then  sent  to  clear  the  country  of  the  fugitives,  which  being 
accomplished,  JACKSON  returned  home  in  June,  1818.  The  house 
of  representatives,  in  the  next  session  of  congress,  justified  his  course 
in  taking  temporary  possession  of  the  Spanish  fortresses,  and  in  execu 
ting  the  two  British  ringleaders.  Soon  after  these  events  he  visited 
the  northern  cities,  where  he  was  enthusiastically  received  with 
public  and  private  honors. 

When  the  Floridas  were  ceded  by  Spain  to  the  United  States,  the 
president  appointed  General  JACKSON  a  commissioner  to  receive  the 
cession,  and  act  as  governor  of  the  territory.  This  important  annex 
ation  was  officially  announced  by  him  at  Pensacola  in  July,  1821, 
when  he  commenced  his  administration.  Having  organized  his 
new  government,  he  resigned  his  office,  and  returned  to  his  farm  in 
Tennessee. 

In  the  month  of  August,  1822,  the  legislature  of  Tennessee  nomi 
nated  General  JACKSON  as  the  successor  of  Mr.  Monroe  in  the 
presidency  of  the  United  States,  the  proposition  was  favorably 
received  in  many  parts  of  the  union.  He  declined  an  appointment 
as  minister  to  Mexico,  and  in  1823  was  elected  to  the  senate  of  the 
United  States  ;  but  having  now  become  a  prominent  candidate  for 
the  chief  magistracy,  he  resigned  his  seat  in  the  second  session.  The 
result  of  the  popular  elections  of  1824  for  president,  gave  General 
JACKSON  a  plurality,  but  not  a  majority  of  votes.  The  house  of 
representatives  were  required,  by  the  constitutional  provision,  to 
make  a  selection  from  the  three  who  received  the  greatest  number  of 
votes,  and  the  suffrages  of  the  states  gave  the  majority  to  Mr.  Adams. 
General  JACKSON  was  at  once  nominated  to  succeed  Mr.  Adams  at 
the  close  of  his  term  of  service,  and  the  elections  of  the  colleges 
were  reported  to  Congress  on  February  11,  1829,  as  giving  to  General 
JACKSON,  one  hundred  and  seventy-eight  votes,  and  to  Mr.  Adams, 
his  only  competitor,  eighty-three. 

The  four  years  of  his  first  administration  did  not  prove  barren  of 
important  incidents.  The  interests  of  agriculture,  commerce,  and 
manufactures — foreign  treaties,  internal  improvements,  and  the  remo 
val  of  the  Cherokee  Indians — the  United  States'  Bank,  the  South 
Carolina  Ordinance,  and  the  Proclamation  of  the  10th  December, 
1832,  were  among  the  subjects  which  were  earnestly  agitated  and 

7  VOL.  1.— K 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

discussed  in  congress  and  in  the  state  legislatures, — in  popular  assem 
blies,  and  the  public  press,  with  a  zeal  and  earnestness,  we  had  almost 
said,  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  our  country ;  but  when  we  look 
back  to  former  administrations,  we  find  that  in  all  of  them,  there  has 
been  something  which  has  been  made  the  rallying  point  of  party; 
something  to  attach  one  portion  of  our  citizens  to  the  measures  of 
government  and  to  give  discontent  to  others.  By  the  constitution,  it 
is  made  the  duty  of  the  president  to  recommend  to  congress  such 
measures  as  he  may  judge  necessary  and  expedient,  and  for  such 
measures  he  is  of  course  responsible  to  his  country ;  but  any  member 
of  congress  may  also  introduce  such  as  he,  may  think  necessary  and 
expedient, — and  if  he  can  carry  them  through  the  legislative  branch 
of  the  government,  the  executive  must  either  approve,  or  disapprove 
of  them,  and  thus  be  made  responsible  in  one  way  or  the  other  for  the 
effect.  As  it  is  impossible  for  any  measure  of  the  government  to  be 
equally  advantageous  to  every  citizen,  nor  can  all  citizens  possess  pre 
cisely  the  same  views,  on  subjects  in  which  they  have  no  immediate 
interest ;  there  will  and  must  be  parties  in  the  country  :  and  whoever 
is,  or  may  be  president,  there  will  be  some  to  approve  and  praise,  and 
others  to  censure  and  condemn  him. 

In  the  year  1832,  General  JACKSON  was  again  nominated  for  the 
presidency,  in  connexion  with  Martin  Van  Bureri  as  the  candidate  for 
vice-president.  The  incidents  of  this  important  election,  will  not  be 
forgotten  while  any  man  lives  who  took  part  in  it.  The  sudden  con 
tractions  and  expansions  of  the  currency,  produced  by  the  bank,  were 
severely  felt.  The  moneyed  interests  of  the  country  were  temporarily 
deranged.  The  storm  was  a  severe  one.  No  public  man  of  his  day, 
except  ANDREW  JACKSON,  possessed  the  fearlessness  necessary  to 
encounter  it.  No  man  but  himself,  had  the  deep  and  abiding  hold  on 
the  sympathies  and  affections  of  the  people  of  America,  without  which 
he  would  inevitably  have  been  crushed.  Nothing  but  his  commanding 
influence  and  wide  spread  popularity,  connected  with  the  unflinching 
determination  of  his  character,  enabled  him,  like  the  well-rooted,  proud 
oak,  to  set  the  whirlwind  at  defiance.  Henry  Clay,  William  Wirt, 
and  John  Floyd,  were  the  presidental  opponents ;  but  JACKSON  was 
elected  by  an  overwhelming  majority,  showing  his  extraordinary 
popularity  and  influence.  The  conduct  of  a  party  called  Nullifiers, 
the  passage  of  the  Compromise  Act,  the  removal  of  the  deposits  from 
the  bank,  and  the  firmness  of  the  President  in  reference  to  the  refusal 
of  France  to  pay  the  instalment  required  by  the  convention  of  1831, 
are  matters  of  history,  rather  than  of  biography,  and  may  therefore 


ANDREW  JACKSON. 

be  dismissed  from  our  notice.  Nothing  of  unusual  interest  occurred 
during  the  administration  of  General  JACKSON,  after  the  amicable 
settlement  of  the  difficulty  with  France.  The  severe  panic  which  fol 
lowed  the  derangement  of  the  currency,  consequent  upon  the  efforts  of 
the  Bank  to  procure  a  renewal  of  its  charter,  was  followed  by  a  season 
of  unexampled  prosperity.  In  1835,  the  public  debt  was  entirely  liqui 
dated;  and  on  the  final  retirement  of  General  JACKSON  to  private  life, 
in  the  spring  of  1837,  he  issued  a  farewell  address  to  the  people, 
setting  forth  the  principles  on  which  he  had  conducted  the  government, 
and  congratulating  them  on  the  peace  and  happiness  which  they 
enjoyed. 

As  the  now  ex-president  prepared  to  take  his  final  leave  of  Wash 
ington,  the  mass  of  the  population  of  the  city,  and  the  masses  which 
had  gathered  from  around,  followed  his  carriage  in  crowds.  All  in 
silence  stood  near  him  to  wish  him  adieu  ;  and  as  the  cars  started,  and 
he  displayed  his  grey  hairs,  as  he  lifted  his  hat  in  token  of  farewell, 
they  stood  around  with  heads  uncovered,  too  full  of  emotion  to  speak, 
in  solemn  silence  gazing  on  him  as  he  departed,  never  more  to  be  seen 
in  their  midst. 

"Behold,"  says  Bancroft,  in  his  admirable  eulogy,  delivered  in  the 
City  of  Washington,  "  Behold  the  warrior  and  statesman,  his  wrork 
wrell  done,  retired  to  the  Hermitage,  to  hold  converse  with  his  forests, 
to  cultivate  his  farm,  to  gather  around  him  hospitably  his  friends! 
Who  was  like  HIM?  He  was  still  the  loadstar  of  the  American 
people.  His  fervid  thoughts,  frankly  uttered,  still  spread  the  flame  of 
patriotism  through  the  American  breast ;  his  counsels  were  still  lis 
tened  to  with  reverence ;  and,  almost  alone  among  statesmen,  he  in 
his  retirement  was  in  harmony  with  every  onward  movement  of  his 
time.  His  prevailing  influence  assisted  to  sway  a  neighboring  nation 
to  desire  to  share  our  institutions ;  his  ear  heard  the  footsteps  of  the 
coming  millions  that  are  to  gladden  our  western  shores ;  and  his  eye 
discerned  in  the  dim  distance  the  whitening  sails  that  are  to  enliven 
the  waters  of  the  Pacific  with  the  social  sounds  of  our  successful 
commerce. 

"  Age  had  whitened  his  locks  and  dimmed  his  eye,  and  spread 
around  him  the  infirmities  and  venerable  emblems  of  many  years  of 
toilsome  service :  but  his  heart  beat  as  warmly  as  in  his  youth,  and  his 
courage  was  as  firm  as  it  had  ever  been  in  the  day  of  battle.  But  while 
his  affections  were  still  for  his  friends  and  his  country,  his  thoughts 
were  already  in  a  better  world.  That  exalted  mind,  which  in  active 
life  had  always  had  unity  of  perception  and  will,  which  in  action  had 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

never  faltered  from  doubt,  and  which  in  council  had  always  reverted 
to  first  principles  and  general  laws,  now  gave  itself  up  to  communing 
with  the  Infinite.  He  was  a  believer  ;  from  feeling,  from  experience, 
from  conviction.  Not  a  shadow  of  scepticism  ever  dimmed  the  lustre 
of  his  mind.  Proud  philosopher !  will  you  smile  to  know  that  ANDREW 
JACKSON  perused  reverently  his  Psalter  and  Prayer  Book,  and  Bible  ? 
Know  that  ANDREW  JACKSON  had  faith  in  the  eternity  of  truth,  in 
the  imperishable  power  of  popular  freedom,  in  the  destinies  of  human 
ity,  in  the  virtues  and  capacity  of  the  people,  in  his  country's  institu 
tions,  in  the  being  and  overruling  providence  of  a  merciful  and  ever- 
living  God." 

He  had  now  reached  the  seventy-ninth  year  of  his  age,  when  on 
June  8th,  1845,  the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord,  death  found  him  in  the  full 
possession  of  his  faculties,  and  prepared  for  the  great  change,  which 
took  place  on  that  day.  When  he  first  felt  the  hand  of  death  upon 
him,  he  cried,  "  May  my  enemies  find  peace ;  may  the  liberties  of  my 
country  endure  forever." 

We  again  quote  from  Bancroft.  "When  his  exhausted  system, 
under  the  excess  of  pain,  sunk,  for  a  moment,  from  debility,  'Do  not 
weep,'  said  he,  to  his  adopted  daughter;  'my  sufferings  are  less  than 
those  of  Christ  upon  the  cross ;'  for  he,  too,  as  a  disciple  of  the 
cross,  could  have  devoted  himself  in  sorrow,  for  mankind.  Feeling 
his  end  near,  he  would  see  all  his  family  once  more ;  and  he 
spoke  to  them,  one  by  one,  in  words  of  tenderness  and  affection.  His 
two  little  grandchildren,  were  absent  at  Sunday  school.  He  asked  for 
them ;  and  as  they  came,  he  prayed  for  them,  and  kissed  them,  and 
blessed  them.  His  servants  were  then  admitted  ;  they  gathered,  some 
in  his  room,  and  some  on  the  outside  of  the  house,  clinging  to  the 
windows,  that  they  might  gaze  and  hear.  And  that  dying  man,  thus 
surrounded,  in  a  gush  of  fervid  eloquence,  spoke  with  inspiration  of 
God,  of  the  Redeemer,  of  salvation  through  the  atonement,  of  immor 
tality,  of  heaven.  For  he  ever  thought  that  pure  and  undefiled 
religion,  was  the  foundation  of  private  happiness,  and  the  bulwark  of 
republican  institutions.  Having  spoken  of  immortality  in  perfect  con 
sciousness  of  his  own  approaching  end,  he  bade  them  all  farewell.  '  Dear 
children,'  such  were  his  final  words,  'dear  children,  servants,  and 
friends,  I  trust  to  meet  you  all  in  heaven,  both  white  and  black.'  And 
having  borne  his  testimony  to  immortality,  he  bowed  his  mighty  head, 
and  without  a  groan,  the  spirit  of  the  greatest  man  of  his  age  escaped 
to  the  bosom  of  his  God." 

If  General  JACKSON  was  great  in  the  field,  and  in  the  presidential 

10 


ANDREA  JACKSON. 

chair,  he  was  assuredly  as  great,  though  in  a  different  way,  in  private 
life.  He  who  had  conquered  the  wilderness,  subdued  the  savage,  and 
brought  the  enemies  of  his  country  to  a  state  of  submission,  with  equal 
ease  attracted  every  neighbor,  and  friend,  and  every  member  of  his 
household  to  himself,  and  excited  emulation  as  to  who  should  show 
him  the  highest  marks  of  their  regard.  He  had  a  heart  full  of  sympa 
thy,  so  that  the  anguish  of  the  wife  he  cordially  loved,  and  of  the 
orphans  whom  he  had  adopted,  would  melt  him  into  tears,  and  make 
him  weep  and  sob  like  a  child.  When  he  retired  from  public  life  to 
his  home,  he  had  no  friendships  to  repair,  for  the  flame  had  continued 
during  his  absence  to  burn  high  and  bright.  He  who  on  the  battle 
field  of  Tohopeka  had  saved  an  infant  which  clung  to  the  breast 
of  its  dying  mother,  and  who  at  a  most  important  moment  in  the 
stormiest  season  of  his  presidency,  paused  on  his  way  to  give  good 
counsel  to  a  poor  suppliant,  who  had  appealed  to  him  for  help,  could 
not  be  otherwise  than  tender  and  kind  when  in  the  bosom  of  a  lovely 
family.  We  feel  no  surprise  at  the  testimony  borne  by  his  friend,  the 
Hon.  Levi  Woodbury,  in  his  able  eulogy  at  Portsmouth,  N.  H.  "  His 
wife,  when  dead,  as  well  as  living,  he  regarded  almost  as  a  guardian 
angel.  Her  miniature  was  worn  near  his  heart  in  health,  and  reposed 
with  his  bible  by  his  sick  couch.  Well  do  I  remember,  while  walking 
with  him  once  among  the  tombs  of  the  distinguished  dead  in  the  congres 
sional  burying-ground,  whither  we  had  gone  to  pay  the  last  obsequies 
to  another  of  their  number,  he  said,  'One  solemn  request  I  now  urge 
on  you :  should  I  die  in  this  city,  remove  my  ashes  to  Tennessee,  arid 
let  me  sleep  beside  my  beloved  wife.'  Thank  God !  his  fond  wishes 
on  this  subject  have  been  realized  ;  and  they  do  sleep  together  under 
the  shades  of  the  Hermitage,  as  they  hope  to  rise  together  at  the 
resurrection  of  the  just."  Yes,  "  his  body,"  to  use  the  words  of 
Bancroft,  "has  its  fit  resting  place  in  the  great  central  valley  of  the 
Mississippi,  his  spirit  rests  upon  our  whole  territory  ;  it  hovers  over  the 
vales  of  Oregon,  and  guards,  in  advance,  the  frontier  of  the  Del  Norte. 
The  fires  of  party  spirit  are  quenched  at  his  grave.  His  faults  and 
frailties  have  perished.  Whatever  of  good  he  has  done,  lives,  and  will 
live  forever."  "  Long,"  says  Woodbury,  "  will  the  memory  of  such 
a  man  be  cherished  by  an  admiring  world ;  and  long,  very  long,  may 
it  live  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen,  and  shed  a  genial  influence 
over  their  character  and  institutions.  Age  and  youth,  in  grateful 
crowds,  till  the  evening  of  time,  will  gather  around  his  tomb,  recount 
his  patriotism  and  glories  with  tearful  eyes,  venerate  his  virtues,  and 
grow  wiser  and  better  by  the  salutary  lessons  his  life  inculcates." 

11 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

It  will  be  readily  believed  that  such  a  man  as  the  one  we  have 
described  would  have  correct  views  of  the  duty  of  every  class  of  men, 
and  would  be  competent  to  give  suitable  advice.  A  preacher  in  the 
West  applied  to  President  JACKSON  for  an  office.  At  that  time  the 
president  was  not  aware  of  his  being  a  minister,  and  politely  told  him 
that  he  would  examine  and  weigh  his  claims.  A  few  days  after,  the 
gentleman  waited  upon  the  president  for  an  answer ;  who  having  pre 
viously  ascertained  the  facts  of  the  case,  asked  him,  if  he  were  not  a 
Christian  minister,  and  was  answered  in  the  affirmative.  "  Well," 
said  the  General,  "  if  you  discharge  the  duties  of  that  office,  which  is 
better  than  any  I  can  confer,  you  will  have  no  time  for  any  other.  I 
advise  you  to  return  home,  and  attend  to  that,  without  seeking  any 
addition  to  your  responsibility,  that  you  may  be  enabled  hereafter  to 
give  a  good  account  of  your  stewardship." 

Nor  was  his  view  of  the  extent  of  religious  freedom  less  correct. 
While  yet  connected  with  the  army,  one  evening  an  officer  presented 
himself,  and  complained  that  some  of  the  soldiers  had  got  together  in 
a  tent,  and  were  making  a  great  noise.  "What  are  they  doing?'7 
asked  the  General  with  some  feeling.  "  They  are  praying  now,  but 
they  have  been  singing/'  "  And  is  that  a  crime."  "  The  articles  of 
war  order  punishment  for  any  unusual  noise."  "  God  forbid,"  said 
the  old  General  "  that  praying  should  be  an  unusual  noise  in  any 
camp." 

We  cannot  close  this  brief  sketch  of  a  great  man  without  presenting  to 
the  imagination  of  the  reader  a  view  of  the  person  of  our  hero.  That 
person  was  tall  and  thin,  and  presented  the  very  embodiment  of  cou 
rage  and  determination.  He  could  not  be  seen  without  feeling,  that  his 
friends  were  right  when  they  called  him  "  the  man  of  the  iron  will.91 
Age,  combined  with  arduous  toil,  planted  furrows  on  his  cheek,  but  to 
the  very  last  you  felt  that  he  had  determination  to  do  whatever  he 
deemed  to  be  right.  We  can  almost  hear  him  say,  "  The  Union:  it 
must  be  preserved."  But  his  animated  and  striking  countenance  also 
indicated  courtesy  and  benevolence ;  his  brilliant  eye  showed  cheerful 
ness  and  calm  deliberation  in  connexion  with  promptitude  of  action. 
His  name  will  go  down  to  posterity  as  being  the  representative  of 
what  was  great  and  good ;  and  we  devoutly  pray  that  thousands  may 
imitate  his  great  example,  and,  like  him,  scatter  blessings  over  our 
country  for  all  time  to  come. 


JAMES  FENIMORE  COOPER. 


THE  fan;  the 

United  States. 

settled  at  Burlington,  New  Jersey.     He  im::v 
part  in  public  affairs,,  as  his  name  appears  in  the 
colonial  legislature  for  1681.     In  1687  he  obtained 
opposite  the  then  new  city  of  Philadelphia,  extending  »  ules 

along  the  margin  of  the  Delaware,  and  the  tributary  stream  which  has 
ever  since  borne  the  name  of  Cooper's  Creek.     1  <  of  the 

family  tx-  amoved,  inor«»  than  a  century 

since,  into  P(  ?  UP*.  I'Ofu.  '.  man 

married,  Sweden 

at  the  f;  Hr  t-s'  .-.  If  in  a  ham 

let  of  P  jes  <o  \u\  called  by  his  name, 

and  after  sive 

tracts  of 
commenced  t: 
lowing  spring 
until  1700,  ,/ 

ington,  r 

JAMES  FENIMORE 
flowing  ymr  wa.«  rn 

,  of  which  he  afterw.: 
.--•••I.     His  father  being  a  member  <" 

>ns  in  Philadelphia,  the  family  spent 

r^  our  author,  when  but  six  yrars  oj  •-   % 

•  Je  tutor  of  some  eminence,  his  classical  !.d»«-f»fi-  »».      \^  f..--i  »; 
old,  he  became  an  inmate  of  the  family  of  tin?  R?>%  .  Thoina* 
Rector  of  St.  Peter's,  in  Albany,  who  had  pr*»parecl  tbrre  of 
^hers  for  the  Uiiiversity;  and  on  tbe  death  of  that  accom 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

plished  teacher,  JAMES  was  sent  to  New  Haven,  where  he  completed  his 
preparatory  studies.  At  the  beginning  of  the  second  term  of  1802  he 
entered  Yale  College ;  here  he  had  among  his  classmates  John  A. 
Collier,  Judge  Cushman,  Justice  Sutherland,  Judge  Bissel,  Colonel 
James  Gadsden,  and  several  others,  who  afterwards  became  eminent 
in  various  professions.  In  1805  he  left  the  college,  where  he  had 
maintained  a  highly  respectable  position  ;  in  the  ancient  languages, 
particularly,  he  had  no  superior  in  his  class. 

Having  obtained  a  midshipman's  warrant,  COOPER,  at  sixteen, 
entered  the  navy.  His  noble,  frank  and  generous  disposition,  here 
made  him  a  favorite,  and  admirably  fitted  him  for  the  service,  in  which 
unquestionably  he  would  have  obtained  the  highest  honors,  had  he  not 
finally  made  choice  of  the  easy  and  quiet  life  of  a  country  gentleman. 
After  six  years  not  unprofitably  spent  on  the  ocean,  as  they  gave  him 
that  knowledge  of  maritime  affairs  which  enabled  him  subsequently 
almost  without  an  effort,  to  place  himself  at  the  head  of  all  writers  on 
the  sea,  he  resigned  his  office.  On  January  1,  1811,  he  was  married 
to  Miss  De  Lancey,  sister  to  the  bishop  of  Western  New  York  of  that 
name,  and  a  member  of  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  influential  families 
in  the  United  States. 

Not  long  after  this,  he  began  to  exercise  his  talents  in  the  way  of 
literary  productions,  n  only  in  the  lighter  department  of  novels,  but 
in  essays  on  philosophical  subjects,  and  if  in  them  the  imagination  was 
less  shown,  they  certainly  indicated  quite  as  much  of  vigorous  thought 
and  manly  style  as  anything  which  afterwards  appeared  from  his  pen. 
His  first  popular  work  was  published  with  the  title  of  "  Precaution;" 
it  was  commenced  under  circumstances  purely  accidental,  and  issued 
under  great  disadvantages.  Apparently  expecting  that  prejudices 
might  exist  against  such  a  work,  he  assumed  a  foreign  guise,  and  laid 
its  scene  in  England  ;  it  contained  a  full  proportion  of  noble  lords  and 
titled  dames,  and  was  highly  palatable  to  its  readers,  who  began, 
however,  to  suspect  from  its  intimate  acquaintance  with  that  country, 
whether  its  alleged  author  could  have  written  it.  It  was  republished 
in  London,  and  passed  for  an  English  novel ;  its  author  deriving 
from  it  more  credit  for  European  knowledge,  than  he  afterwards 
did  for  his  work  on  England,  written  after  many  years'  residence 
in  Europe.  But  inasmuch  as  it  contained  no  fashionable  slang, 
misplaced  sentimentality,  incoherent  rhapsodies,  nor  libels  on  dis 
tinguished  persons, — as  it  was  noticed  in  no  English  Review,  and 
the  secret  of  its  authorship  having  transpired,  it  was  descending 
to  oblivion,  when  his  "  Spy"  "Pioneers"  "Pilot"  &c.,  appeared 


JAMES  FENIMORE  COOPER. 

in  rapid  succession,  and  placed   our  author  universally  high  in  pub 
lic  esteem. 

The  limits  necessarily  assigned  to  this  article,  preclude  the  possibility 
of  an  extended  notice  of  the  almost  innumerable  works  which  pro 
ceeded  from  Mr.  COOPER'S  pen,  all  of  which,  however,  varied  in  their 
character,  and  greatly  differing  in  degrees  of  excellence,  received  great 
attention ;  and  though  neglected  in  some  high  quarters,  they  were  trans 
lated  into  most  of  the  European  languages,  and  gave  instruction  and 
amusement  to  millions.  Nor  would  it  be  less  pleasing,  as  far  as  it  might 
be  possible,  to  sketch  the  little  incidents  connected  with  the  origin  of  his 
works.  An  able  writer  in  "  The  International  Magazine"  who  has 
given,  as  we  know,  from  high  authority,  the  most  correct  sketch  of 
COOPER  hitherto  published,  and  to  whom  we  acknowledge  ourselves 
indebted,  gives  this  anecdote  as  to  the  origin  of  the  "  The  Pilot." 
"  The  Pirate,"  by  Sir  Walter  Scott,  had  been  published  a  short  time, 
when  in  conversation  with  Charles  Wiikes,  of  New  York,  a  gentleman 
of  fine  taste  and  judgment,  COOPER  heard  extolled  the  universal 
knowledge  of  Scott,  and  the  sea-portions  of  the  Pirate  were  referred 
to  as  proof.  He  laughed  at  the  idea,  as  most  seamen  would,  and  the 
discussion  ended  by  his  promising  to  write  a  sea  story  which  could  be 
read  by  landsmen,  while  seamen  should  feel  its  truth.  "  The  Pilot" 
was  the  fruit  of  that  conversation.  It  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
novels  of  the  time,  and  everywhere  obtained  immediate  and  high 
applause. 

About  the  year  1827,  after  the  publication  of  "  The  Last  of  the 
Mohicans"  Mr  COOPER  went  to  Europe,  chiefly  with  the  view  of 
giving  to  his  numerous  and  highly  interesting  family  the  advantages  of 
a  completely  finished  education.  He  had  been  complimented  with  the 
title  of  American  Consul  at  Lyons,  an  empty  honor,  which  he  so  little 
valued,  that  we  have  no  evidence  that  he  even  once  visited  the  scene 
of  his  official  functions.  Of  all  Americans  who  ever  visited  Europe,  Mr. 
COOPER  contributed  most  to  the  reputation  of  our  country.  His  high 
character  made  him  everywhere  welcome ;  there  was  no  circle,  how 
ever  aristocratical  or  distinguished,  in  which,  if  he  appeared,  he  was 
not  the  observed  of  all  observers ;  and  he  had  the  somewhat  singular 
merit  of  never  forgetting  that  he  was  an  American.  After  being  in 
Europe  about  two  years,  he  published  his  "  Notions  of  the  Americans" 
in  which  he  successfully  "endeavored  to  repel  some  of  the  hostij 
opinions  of  the  other  hemisphere,  and  to  turn  the  tables  on  those  who 
at  that  time,  most  derided  and  calumniated  us."  This  eloquent  vindi 
cation  of  our  institutions,  manners  and  history,  shows  hov  warm  was 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

his  patriotism;  how  fondly,  while  receiving  from  strangers  an  homage 
withheld  from  him  at  home,  he  remembered  the  scene  of  his  birth,  ami 
his  first  trials  and  triumphs,  and  how  ready  he  was  to  sacrifice  per 
sonal  popularity  and  profit  in  defence  of  his  country. 

Nor  was  the  publication  of  this  work  the  only  evidence  he  gave  of 
his  interest  in  "  home."  So  well  was  he  known,  and  so  highly  was  his 
knowledge  appreciated,  that  when,  following  the  three  days  of  July, 
1830.  a  fierce  contest  took  place  between  the  absolutists,  the  republicans, 
and  the  constitutionalists,  as  to  the  comparative  cheapness  of  our  system 
of  government,  Lafayette  appealed  to  Mr.  COOPER,  who  entered  the 
arena ;  and  though,  from  his  peculiar  position,  at  a  heavy  pecuniary 
loss,  and  the  danger  of  incurring  yet  greater  misfortunes,  by  a  masterly 
expose  silenced  at  once  the  popular  falsehoods,  which  had  gone  to 
assert  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  paid  more  direct  and  indi 
rect  taxes  for  the  support  of  government  than  the  French.  So  in  all 
places,  circumstances  and  times,  Mr.  COOPER  was  the  "  American  in 
Europe,"  as  jealous  of  his  country's  reputation  as  of  his  own. 

The  first  work  which  Mr.  COOPER  published  after  his  return  to  the 
United  States  was  "  Ji  Letter  to  his  Countrymen"  They  had  yielded 
him  but  a  hesitating  applause  until  his  praise  come  back  from  Europe; 
and  when  the  tone  of  foreign  criticism  was  changed  by  opinions  and 
actions  of  his  which  should  have  united  the  whole  American  press  in 
his  defence,  he  was  assailed  in  articles  which  either  echoed  the  tone, 
or  were  translations  of  attacks  made  upon  him  by  foreigners.  The 
custom  peculiar  to  this  country  of  "quoting  the  opinions  of  foreign 
nations  by  way  of  helping  to  make  up  its  own  estimate  of  the  degree 
of  merit  which  belongs  to  its  public  men,"  is  treated  in  this  letter  with 
caustic  and  just  severity,  and  shown  to  be  "  destructive  of  those  senti 
ments  of  self-respect  and  of  that  manliness  of  thought,  that  are 
necessary  to  render  a  people  great,  or  a  nation  respectable."  Satires, 
sketches  of  foreign  lands,  novels,  history  of  the  navy  of  the  United 
States,  dramas,  &c.,  followed  each  other  in  rapid  succession,  and  pro 
duced  no  small  discussion.  All  these  works  which  possess  permanent 
interest  are  gradually  re-appearing  before  the  public,  in  the  handsome 
style  adopted  by  Putnam,  of  New  York ;  and  as  they  will  most 
assuredly  be  almost  universally  read,  it  is  unnecessary  in  this  brief 
sketch  fully  to  characterize  each  individual  production.  There  is  now 
living  no  writer  whose  fame  is  so  universal. 

"It  is  well  known,"  says  Dr.  Francis,  in  his  interesting  '  Remini 
scences,'  "  that  for  a  long  period  Mr.  COOPER,  at  occcasional  times 
only,  visited  New  York  city.  His  residence  for  many  years  was  an 


JAMES  FENIMORE  COOPER. 

elegant  and  quiet  mansion  on  the  southern  borders  of  Otsego  Luke, 
Here, — in  his  beautiful  retreat,  embellished  by  the  substantial  fruits  of 
his  labors,  and  displaying  everywhere  his  exquisite  taste,  his  mind, 
ever  intent  on  congenial  tasks,  which,  alas,  are  left  unfinished, 
surrounded  by  a  devoted  and  highly  cultivated  family,  and  maintaining 
the  same  clearness  of  perception,  serene  firmness,  and  integrity  of  tone 
which  distinguished  him  in  the  meridian  of  his  life, — were  his  mental 
employments  prosecuted.  He  lived  chiefly  in  rural  seclusion,  and 
with  habits  of  methodical  industry.  When  visiting  the  city  he  mingled 
cordially  with  his  old  friends ;  and  it  was  on  the  last  occasion  of  this 
kind  at  the  beginning  of  April,  [1851]  that  he  consulted  me  with  some 
earnestness  in  regard  to  his  health.  He  complained  of  the  impaired 
tone  of  the  digestive  organs,  great  torpor  of  the  liver,  weakness  of 
muscular  activity,  and  feebleness  in  walking.  Such  suggestions  were 
offered  for  his  relief  as  the  indications  of  disease  warranted.  He  left 
the  city  for  his  country  residence,  and  I  was  gratified  shortly  after  to 
learn  from  him  of  his  better  condition."  Alas,  that  all  this  improve 
ment  was  transient.  In  August  the  Doctor  was  summoned  to  the 
dwelling  of  his  friend,  to  witness  symtoms  which  all  his  skill  could  not 
remove.  The  friend  and  the  author  peacefully  died  amidst  the  tears 
of  his  family,  Sept.  14,  1851,  in  the  sixty-second  year  of  his  age. 
When  describing  the  state  of  his  mind  during  his  last  illness,  the  Doc 
tor  says,  "  The  great  characteristics  of  his  intellect  \vere  now  even 
more  conspicuous  than  before.  Not  a  rnurmer  escaped  his  lips ; 
conviction  of  his  extreme  illness  wrought  no  alteration  of  features  ;  he 
gave  no  expression  of  despondency  ;  his  tone  and  his  manners  wyere 
equally  dignified,  cordial,  and  natural.  It  was  his  happiness  to  be 
blessed  with  a  family  around  him  wrhose  greatest  gratification  was  to 
supply  his  every  want,  and  a  daughter,  [the  accomplished  authoress 
of (  Rural  Hours,']  for  a  companion  in  his  pursuits,  who  was  his  in 
defatigable  amanuensis  and  correspondent  as  well  as  indefatigable 
nurse."  The  Doctor  afterwards  adds,  "  A  life  of  such  uniform  and 
unparalleled  excellence  and  service,  a  career  so  brilliant  and  honorable, 
closed  in  a  befitting  manner,  and  was  crowned  by  a  death  of  quiet 
resignation.  Conscious  of  his  approaching  dissolution,  his  intelligence 
seemed  to  glow  with  increased  fulness  as  his  prostrated  frame  yielded 
by  degrees  to  the  last  summons.  It  is  familiarly  known  to  his  most 
intimate  friends,  that  for  some  considerable  period  prior  to  his  fatal 
illness,  he  appropriated  liberal  portions  of  his  time  to  the  investigation 
of  scriptural  truths,  and  that  his  convictions  were  ripe  in  Christian 
doctrines.  With  assurances  of  happiness  in  the  future  he  yielded  Mp 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

his  spirit  to  the  disposal  of  its  Creator.  His  death,  which  must  thus 
have  been  the  beginning  of  a  serene  and  more  blessed  life  to  him,  is 
universally  regarded  as  a  national  loss." 

The  personal  appearance  of  Mr.  COOPER  was  very  commanding. 
His  manly  figure,  high  prominent  forehead,  clear  and  fine  gray  eyes, 
arid  royal  bearing,  showed  the  man  of  intelligence  and  determination. 
His  literary  industry  and  decision  were  truly  remarkable,  and  their 
results  are  seen  in  the  nearly  innumerable  editions  of  his  works,  in  our 
own  country,  and  their  circulation  abroad  by  translations  into  almost 
innumerable  languages.  By  common  consent  he  long  occupied  the 
highest  rank  in  American  literature,  and  did  more  to  make  known  to 
the  transatlantic  world  his  country  in  her  scenery,  her  aboriginal 
inhabitants,  her  history,  and  her  characteristics,  than  all  preceding 
writers.  All  his  delineations  of  character  are  as  distinct  and  actual  as 
the  personages  who  stand  before  us  on  the  stage  of  history. 

In  private  life,  Mr.  COOPER  was  distinguished  for  great  benevolence, 
affability,  and  captivating  powers  of  conversation.  He  has  detected 
the  thief  pilfering  apples  from  his  garden,  and  censured  him  for  not 
coming  through  the  front  gate  to  take  what  he  wanted,  inasmuch  as 
secrecy  might  induce  persons  to  think  he  was  a  miserly  niggard,  who 
refused  to  accommodate  his  neighbors;  and  was  always  ready  to 
relieve  the  distresses  of  humanity  and  genius.  He  was  a  keen  observer 
of  men  and  things,  and  frank  and  emphatic  in  the  expression  of  his 
views.  Alas,  that  he  was  unwilling  that  any  biographical  memorial  of 
him  should  be  constructed,  and  that  surviving  friends  and  future  gene 
rations  must  be  content  with  the  collection  of  the  few  facts  concerning 
him  which  float  on  the  surface  of  society.  His  friends,  however,  will 
take  care  that  he  shall  not  be  forgotten.  A  meeting  to  testify  regard 
to  his  name  and  character,  which  was  intensely  interesting  in  all  its 
associations,  was  held  in  New  York,  Feb.  27,  1852.  Daniel  Webster 
occupied  the  chair,  William  Cullen  Bryant  delivered  an  eloquent  and 
affecting  commemorative  address,  and  a  large  number  of  eminent 
literary  gentlemen  were  in  attendance  to  witness  the  tears  of  genius 
over  one  of  her  most  favorite  sons. 

I 


f  John  S.Flmimg  Esif  of  Mrs 


P  A  T  R  I  C 


PATRICK  HF.XRV  \ 

Hanover,  stat 
in  his   yc  ,  huirable  quaiil 
rendered  him  il:  of  his 
etieiii 
of  inrii 

his  ;  at  a  future  ptrru*<; 

was  involved  in  obscurity  until  aroused  fn 
by  circumstances  which  brought  all  its  powerful  en« 
and  displayed  its  vigor  and  splendor  to  his  astonished  as 
countrymen.     Agriculture  and  shop  keeping  were  successively  pur 
sued  and  abandoned  by  him.     Failure  attended  his  early  career,  and 
»i  •  was  engaged,  or  when  struggling  to  subdue 

t*»  fu!  employments  of  \&,  he  seemed 

>n.     At  the  as* 


ihe  prai 

(ailied, 

license 

'•.veni    • 

vfrength  at  t! 

•exhibited  in  full  rd- 

•us  profession.     The  cnusti  in   *'<r 

x;fore  a  court  and  jnry,  was  (i- 

•Jivolved  a  question  upon  which  the 

die  clergy  and  people  bein;?  arr 

•ourt  on  a  demurrer  in  favor  frf"  t 

.nothing  undetermined  bnt  the  ni 
A  as  pending.     The  COUMV?  \vh»»  h?. 

uts  having  retired  from  th-- 
(is  retained,  and  on  a  wr- 

;  the  opportunity  furnish* 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

discussion  of  the  points  which  had  been  previously  settled,  and 
although  in  deviation  from  regular  practice,  succeeded  by  the  force 
of  his  eloquence  in  inducing  the  jury  to  give  but  nominal  damages. 
The  management  of  the  cause  gained  for  him  the  most  enthusiastic 
applause,  and  brought  him  so  prominently  before  the  public,  that  he 
became  the  idol  of  the  people  whom  he  had  so  efficiently  served,  and 
received  the  most  earnest  demonstrations  of  their  admiration. 

In  1764,  he  removed  to  the  county  of  Louisa,  and  in  the  fall  of  that 
year,  appeared  before  a  committee  of  the  house  of  burgesses,  then 
sitting  at  Williamsburg,  as  counsel  in  the  case  of  a  contested  election, 
and  amidst  the  fashion  and  splendor  of  the  seat  of  government,  the 
rustic  orator  commanded  attention  and  respect. 

A  wider  field  for  the  display  of  his  eloquence  was  soon  open  to 
him,  and  as  the  controversy  with  Great  Britain  began  to  thicken,  the 
champion  of  the  people's  rights  was  called  into  the  public  counsels,  to 
rebuke  the  spirit  of  despotism,  and  sustain  the  drooping  spirits  of  his 
countrymen,  by  an  eloquence  which  springing  from  the  great  fountain 
of  nature,  no  power  could  control  or  subdue.  The  seat  of  a  member 
of  the  house  of  burgesses  was  vacated  to  make  room  for  him,  and  in 
the  month  of  May,  1765,  he  was  elected  a  member.  He  was  now 
destined  to  act  among  the  most  accomplished  and  distinguished  men 
of  the  country.  Following  no  other  guide  than  his  pure  and  patriotic 
spirit,  and  using  no  other  instrument  of  action  but  his  own  matchless 
eloquence,  he  rapidly  ascended  to  the  loftiest  station  in  the  confidence 
and  affections,  both  of  the  legislature  and  of  the  people.  Taking  at 
once  a  bold  stand,  he  rallied  around  him  the  opposition,  and  became 
the  envy  and  the  terror  of  the  aristocracy.  His  plebeian  origin  and 
rustic  appearance  were  singularly  contrasted  with  the  rich  veins  of 
intellectual  wealth,  which  the  collisions  of  debate  and  party  strife 
brought  to  the  public  view.  By  his  almost  unaided  skill,  he  defeated 
the  aristocracy  in  a  favorite  measure,  and  acquired  an  ascendency  at 
the  outset  of  his  public  career  which  enabled  him  to  give  the  impress 
of  his  own  undaunted  spirit  to  the  future  counsels  of  the  state.  In 
1765,  "  alone,  unadvised  and  unassisted,"  he  wrote  on  the  blank  leaf 
of  an  old  law  book  the  resolutions  of  1765,  denouncing  the  stamp  act 
and  asserting  the  rights  of  the  people.  On  offering  them  to  the 
legislature,  they  met  with  violent  opposition,  which  drew  from  Mr. 
HENRY  one  of  the  most  vivid  and  powerful  efforts  of  his  eloquence. 
Breasting  the  storm,  and  bidding  defiance  to  the  cries  of  treason,  by 
which  in  vain  it  was  attempted  to  silence  him,  he  secured  their  adop 
tion,  and  thus  gave  an  impulse  to  public  feeling,  and  a  character  to  the 


PATRICK  HENRY. 

contest,  which  essentially  aided  the  revolutionary  cause.  In  the  year 
1767,  or  1768,  he  removed  from  Louisa  to  his  native  county,  and 
continued  without  intermission  in  public  life,  until  after  the  close  of 
the  war.  The  higher  courts  engaged  his  attention,  and  although  a 
want  of  familiarity  with  the  common  law,  and  a  dislike  to  the  forms 
of  practice  obstructed  his  progress,  he  found  in  the  trial  of  criminal 
causes  an  extensive  sphere  for  the  exercise  of  his  abilities,  and  the 
acquisition  of  a  professional  reputation. 

In  the  assembly  he  continued  to  espouse  the  cause  of  the  people, 
and  permitted  no  opportunity  to  escape,  of  stimulating  them  and 
their  representatives  to  repel  the  aggressions  of  the  mother  country. 
Prior  to  the  commencement  of  hostilities,  he  predicted  the  dissolution 
of  the  connection  which  subsisted  between  her  and  her  colonies,  and 
the  triumph  of  the  latter. 

The  house  of  burgesses  having  been,  in  1774,  dissolved  by  Gover 
nor  Dunmore,  in  consequence  of  their  energetic  opposition  to  tyranny, 
the  members  recommended  a  convention  of  the  people  to  deliberate 
on  the  critical  posture  of  affairs,  and  particularly  to  appoint  delegates 
to  a  congress  to  be  convened  at  Philadelphia.  Mr.  HENRY  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  convention,  and  by  that  body  was  appointed 
with  Messrs  Randolph,  Lee,  Washington,  Bland,  Harrison,  and  Pendle- 
ton,  delegates  to  congress,  which  assembled  at  Carpenter's  Hall,  on  the 
4th  of  September.  The  most  illustrious  men  of  America  who  had 
been  heretofore  strangers,  or  only  known  to  one  another  by  fame,  were 
now  brought  by  the  common  danger  which  hung  over  their  country, 
into  the  closest  intercourse.  The  organized  masses  of  virtue,  intelli 
gence,  and  genius,  formed  a  body  which  attracted  by  its  wisdom,  firm 
ness  and  patriotism,  the  admiration  of  mankind,  and  must  ever  reflect 
unfading  lustre  on  the  country  whose  destinies  they  controlled,  and 
whose  freedom  they  achieved.  Mr.  HENRY'S  magical  eloquence  first 
broke  the  solemn  silence  which  succeeded  their  organization,  and  in 
breasts  so  lofty  and  so  pure,  the  undisciplined  and  untutored  voice  of 
patriotism  and  of  native  genius  found  a  response,  which  sustained  its 
boldest  exertions.  The  impartial  judgments  of  the  greatest  and  most 
accomplished  men  awarded  to  him  the  highest  place  among  orators. 

Unfortunately  for  Mr.  HENRY,  he  did  not  excel  in  composition,  for 
having  been  placed  on  a  committee  to  prepare  an  address  to  the  king, 
he  did  not  fulfil  the  expectations  which  his  eloquence  had  created,  and 
accordingly  his  draft  was  recommitted,  and  John  Dickinson  added  to 
the  committee,  who  reported  the  celebrated  address  which  so  much 
increased  his  reputation. 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

The  Virginia  convention  met  a  second  time  in  March,  1775,  ai 
Richmond,  when  Mr.  HENRY  brought  forward  a  series  of  resolutions 
containing  a  plan  for  the  organization  of  the  militia.  In  defiance  of 
the  opposition  of  the  ablest  and  most  patriotic  members  of  the  conven 
tion,  they  were  sustained  by  a  torrent  of  irresistible  eloquence  from 
Mr.  HENRY,  who  inspired  the  convention  with  a  determined  spirit  of 
resistance.  An  opportunity  soon  occurred  for  a  trial  of  his  courage, 
as  well  as  of  his  influence  with  the  people.  The  prohibition  of  the 
exportation  of  powder  from  Great  Britain,  was  followed  by  attempts  to 
procure  the  possession  of  magazines  in  America,  by  which  the  colo 
nists  would  be  deprived  of  the  means  of  defence.  A  large  quantity 
of  gun-powder  was  clandestinely  removed  from  the  colonial  magazine 
at  Williamsburg,  and  placed  on  board  of  armed  British  vessels.  The 
excitement  which  it  produced,  extorted  from  the  governor  a  promise 
for  its  return,  by  which  public  feeling  was  for  the  time  appeased,  but 
subsequent  threats  and  rumors  of  fresh  encroachments  on  the  maga 
zine,  together  with  the  irritation  produced  by  the  battles  of  Concord 
and  Lexington,  aroused  the  country  to  arms.  The  movements  of  the 
military  corps  was,  however,  arrested  by  the  exertions  of  Mr.  Randolph. 
But  Mr.  HENRY,  determined  not  to  submit  to  the  aggressions  of  the 
British  governor,  despatched  express  riders  to  the  members  of  the 
Independent  Company  of  Hanover  to  meet  him  in  arms  at  Newcastle. 
Having  aroused  their  patriotism  by  all  the  efforts  of  his  eloquence,  by 
the  resignation  of  the  captain,  he  became  the  commander,  and  they 
commenced  their  march  for  Williamsburg.  The  country  was  electri 
fied.  Other  companies  joined  the  revolutionary  standard  of  PATRICK 
HENRY,  and  at  least  five  thousand  men  were  in  arms,  rushing  to  his 
assistance.  The  governor  issued  a  proclamation  denouncing  the 
movement.  The  greatest  consternation  prevailed  at  Williamsburg ; 
even  the  patriots  were  alarmed,  and  despatched  messenger  after  mes 
senger  to  induce  him  to  abandon  the  enterprise ;  but  undaunted,  he 
resolutely  pursued  his  march.  The  governor,  after  making  prepara 
tions  for  his  defence,  deemed  it  most  prudent  to  avoid  a  conflict,  and 
accordingly  ordered  Mr.  HENRY  to  be  met  at  Newcastle  with  a  com 
pensation  in  money  for  the  powder.  Another  proclamation  from  the 
governor  denouncing  him,  not  only  fell  harmless  before  him,  but 
seemed  to  render  him  an  object  of  greater  public  regard.  Mr.  H  KNRY'S 
journey  to  congress,  which  had  been  interrupted  by  this  event,  was 
now  resumed,  and  became,  as  far  as  the  borders  of  Virginia,  a  tri 
umphant  procession. 

The  affair  of  the  gun-powder  brought  Mr.  HENRY  to  the  notice  of 


PATRICK  HENRY. 

the  colonial  convention  in  a  military  point  of  view,  and  accordingly 
"  he  was  elected  colonel  of  the  first  regiment,  and  commander  of  all 
the  forces  raised  and  to  be  raised  for  the  defence  of  the  colony." 
Having  resigned  his  commission,  he  was  elected  a  delegate  to  the 
convention  which  met  on  the  6th  of  May,  1776,  at  Williamsbiirg.  On 
the  1st  of  July,  he  was  elected  the  first  republican  governor  of  Vir 
ginia,  and  was  continued  in  that  station  by  an  unanimous  vote, 
until  1778.  A  wish  having  been  expressed  to  reC-lect  him  for 
the  fourth  term,  he  declined  being  a  candidate,  on  the  ground  that 
the  constitution  had  declared  the  governor  to  be  ineligible  after  the 
third  year,  although  an  impression  existed  on  the  minds  of  some  of 
the  members  of  the  legislature,  that  his  appointment  for  the  first  year 
having  been  made  prior  to  the  adoption  of  that  instrument,  should  not 
be  counted  in  his  term  of  service  under  it.  Mr.  HENRY  entertaining 
a  different  opinion,  communicated  his  views  to  the  assembly,  "that 
they  might  have  the  earliest  opportunity  of  deliberating  upon  the 
choice  of  his  successor."  Few  opportunities  occurred  for  distinction 
during  his  gubernatorial  career,  but  he  appears  to  have  performed  all 
the  duties  of  the  station,  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  country,  and  to  have 
retired  with  an  increase  of  reputation  and  popularity.  During  the 
gloomiest  period  of  the  conflict  for  independence,  a  project  was  twice 
started  to  create  a  dictation,  and  whilst  the  most  satisfactory  evidence 
exists  that  Mr.  HENRY  had  no  participation  in  it,  it  is  highly  honora 
ble  to  him,  that,  the  drooping  spirits  of  his  countrymen  were  turned  to 
him  as  the  safest  depository  of  uncontrolled  authority.  After  retiring 
from  the  executive  department,  Mr.  HENRY  became  once  more  a  repre 
sentative  in  the  assembly,  and  continued  to  enlighten  the  public  coun 
cils  by  the  splendor  of  his  eloquence,  and  his  liberal  views  of  public 
policy.  Among  the  measures  which  he  advocated  after  the  close  of 
the  war,  the  return  of  the  British  refugees,  the  removal  of  restraints 
on  British  commerce,  even,  before  the  treaty  by  which  that  object  was 
accomplished,  and  the  improvement  of  the  condition  of  the  Indians, 
were  conspicuous.  On  the  17th  of  November,  1784,  he  was  again 
elected  governor  of  Virginia.  His  circumstances,  owing  to  the  small- 
ness  of  the  salaries  which  he  had  received,  and  the  sacrifices  he  had 
made  in  the  public  service,  had  become  embarrassed,  which  induced 
him  to  retire  from  that  station  in  the  fall  of  1786,  whilst  yet  a  year 
remained  of  his  constitutional  term,  and  also  to  decline  accepting  the 
appointment  which  was  tendered  to  him  by  the  legislature,  of  a  seat 
in  the  convention  to  revise  the  constitution  of  the  United  States. 
"On  his  resigning  the  government,"  says  his  accomplished  biographer 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

Mr.  "YVirt,  "  he  retired  to  Prince  Edward  county,  and  endeavored  to 
cast  about  for  the  means  of  extricating-  himself  from  his  debts.  At  the 
age  of  fifty  years,  worn  down  by  more  than  twenty  years  of  arduous 
service  in  the  cause  of  his  country,  eighteen  of  which  had  been  occu 
pied  by  the  toils  and  tempests  of  the  revolution,  it  was  natural  for 
him  to  wish  for  rest,  and  to  seek  some  secure  and  placid  port  in  which 
he  might  repose  himself  from  the  fatigues  of  the  storm.  This,  how 
ever,  Avas  denied  him;  and  after  having  devoted  the  bloom  of  youth 
and  the  maturity  of  manhood  to  the  good  of  his  country,  he  had  now 
in  his  old  age  to  provide  for  his  family."  He  accordingly  resumed 
the  practice  of  the  law,  in  which  the  powers  of  his  eloquence  secured 
him  constant  employment.  But  it  was  difficult  for  him  to  abstract 
himself  entirely  from  public  affairs,  and  the  formation  of  the  consti 
tution  of  the  United  States,  respecting  which  he  entertained  most 
erroneous  views,  enlisted  his  feelings  once  more  in  political  stru<r^le 
as  a  member  of  the  convention,  assembled  for  its  adoption,  at  Rich 
mond,  on  June  2d,  1788. 

Professing  to  be  alarmed  at  the  character  and  extent  of  the  powers 
conferred  on  the  federal  government.  Mr.  HENRY  exerted  all  his 
great  abilities  to  produce  its  defeat.  Fortunately  for  the  country, 
Virginia  possessed,  and  was  enabled  to  bring  in  opposition  to  his  con 
stitutional  views,  an  array  of  great  men,  who,  although  inferior  to 
him  in  eloquence,  surpassed  him  in  knowledge,  and  by  their  combined 
exertions,  were  able  to  counterbalance  the  influence  which  his  skill  in 
debate,  unquestionable  patriotism,  and  long  continued  services,  ena 
bled  him  to  wield.  Madison,  Marshall.  Pendleton,  Wythe,  Nicholas,. 
Randolph,  Innis,  and  Lee, were  the  bulwarks  of  that  sacred  shield  of 
liberty,  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  against  which  our  patri 
otic  orator,  with  his  wonted  vigor  and  matured  skill,  week  after  week, 
cast  the  darts  of  his  stupendous  eloquence.  Ridicule,  sarcasm,  pathos, 
and  argument  were  resorted  to,  to  accomplish  his  object,  and  with  untir 
ing  energy,  he  assailed  it  as  a  system  and  in  detail,  as  the  one  plan 
or  the  other  seemed  best  calculated  for  the  purposes  of  the  veteran 
tactician.  He  denounced  it  as  a  consolidated,  instead  of  a  confede 
rated,  government,  and  charged  the  convention  by  which  it  was 
framed,  with  an  assumption  of  power,  when,  by  the  preamble  they 
declared  the  instrument  to  emanate  from  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  instead  of  the  states  by  which  they  were  appointed.  The 
powers  conferred  on  the  government,  were,  in  his  opinion,  dangerous 
to  freedom,  and  he  condemned  the  whole  system  as  pregnant  with 


PATRICK  HENRY. 

hazard,  and  ruinous  to  liberty.  Mr.  HENRY  was  combated  with 
admirable  skill,  and  triumphantly  defeated. 

His  failure  in  the  convention  did  not  however  affect  his  influence, 
and  in  the  subsequent  fall,  he  possessed  in  the  assembly  the  confidence 
and  popularity  which  had  so  long  clung  to  him.  He  succeeded  in 
procuring  the  election  of  candidates  for  the  senate  of  the  United  States 
in  opposition  to  those  nominated  by  his  antagonists ;  and  also  in  pro 
curing  the  adoption  of  a  series  of  resolutions  favorable  to  a  convention 
of  the  states  to  alter  the  constitution,  which  had  been  so  recently 
adopted.  In  the  spring  of  1791.  he  declined  a  reelection  to  the 
assembly,  with  the  view  of  retiring  altogether  from  public  life.  Neces 
sity  compelled  him  to  continue  the  practice  of  the  law,  and  in  the  fall 
of  that  year,  he  argued  before  the  circuit  court  of  the  United  States 
the  celebrated  case  of  the  British  debts,  with  an  eloquence  and  pro 
fessional  ability  which  extorted  the  admiration  of  the  bench,  and  the 
crowded  audience  which  his  great  reputation  had  assembled.  Such 
was  the  curiosity  to  hear  him,  that  a  quorum  of  the  legislature  could 
not  be  obtained,  and  a  large  concourse  were  subjected  to  disappoint 
ment  by  the  multitude  which  thronged  the  court  room.  For  three 
days  he  riveted  the  attention  of  a  promiscuous  audience,  whilst  dis 
cussing  t'he  usually  uninteresting  details  of  complicated  law  points. 
His  success  in  the  practice  of  the  law  was  eminently  distinguished, 
arid  being  relieved  by  the  assistance  of  other  counsel  from  the  neces 
sity  of  turning  his  attention  to  such  branches  of  the  practice  as  were 
unsuitable  to  him,  his  genius  had  ample  scope  to  range  in  the  direction 
most  congenial  to  it. 

In  the  year  1796,  he  was  once  more  elected  governor  of  Virginia, 
which  he  declined.  He  also  refused  to  accept  the  embassy  to  Spain, 
which  was  offered  to  him  during  the  administration  of  Washington, 
and  that  to  France,  to  which  he  was  appointed  by  Mr.  Adams.  His 
declining  health  and  advanced  age,  rendered  retirement  more  desirable 
to  him  than  ever ;  but  prior  to  the  close  of  his  earthly  career,  he  was 
induced  to  forego  the  comforts  and  peace  of  domestic  life,  to  embark 
in  the  stormy  conflicts  of  political  controversy.  Believing  that  the 
democratic  party  in  Virginia  were  yielding  to  passion,  and  advocating 
principles  hostile  to  the  safety  of  the  country,  and  opposed  to  the  con 
stitution  of  the  United  States,  Mr.  HENRY  espoused  the  cause  of  that 
instrument,  the  adoption  of  which  he  had  so  strenuously  resisted. 
The  Virginia  resolutions  of  1798  filled  him  with  alarm,  and  although 
subsequent  events  have  shown  that  the  authors  of  them  did  not  harbor 
intentions  hostile  to  the  union,  Mr.  HENRY  firmly  believed  that  he 

7  E2 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

saw  in  their  train  the  most  ruinous  consequences.  He  presented 
himself  at  the  spring  election  of  1799,  at  the  county  of  Charlotte,  as  a 
candidate  for  the  house  of  delegates,  and  in  an  eloquent  address  to  the 
people,  expressed  his  alarm  at  the  conduct  of  the  party  opposed  to  the 
national  administration,  his  belief  that  their  measures  were  not  in 
accordance  with  the  constitution,  and  his  determination  to  support 
that  instrument.  He  reminded  them  of  his  opposition  to  it  on  the 
very  grounds  that  the  powers  which  they  were  then  condemning,  were 
conferred,  denied  the  right  of  a  state  to  decide  on  the  validity  of 
federal  laws,  and  declared  his  firm  belief,  that  the  destruction  of  the 
constitution  would  be  followed  by  the  total  loss  of  liberty. 

His  usual  success  attended  him,  and  he  was  elected.  His  health; 
however,  yielded  to  the  disease  with  which  he  had  been  afflicted  for 
two  years,  and  he  expired  on  the  6th  of  June,  1799. 

Mr.  HENRY  was  twice  married,  and  was  the  parent  of  fifteen  child 
ren,  eleven  of  whom  survived  him.  In  domestic  life,  he  was  con 
spicuous  for  his  simplicity,  frankness,  and  morality.  Without  ostenta 
tion,  his  retirement  was  enlivened  by  the  cheerfulness  of  his  disposition, 
and  the  stores  of  practical  knowledge  which  a  long  career  in  public 
life  had  enabled  him  to  accumulate.  He  was  a  firm  Christian,  and 
devoted  much  of  his  time  in  the  concluding  years  of  his  life  to  reading 
works  on  religion.  Temperate  in  his  habits,  indulgent  to  his  children, 
and  rigid  in  his  morals,  there  was  but  little  in  his  conduct  for  detrac 
tion  to  act  upon.  The  charge  of  apostacy  was  made  against  him 
on  account  of  his  determination  to  sustain  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States,  which  he  had  so  strongly  opposed ;  but  when  we 
reflect  upon  the  incalculable  blessings  which  it  has  showered 
upon  the  country,  and  how  triumphantly  it  has  refuted,  by  its 
practical  operations,  the  objections  which  were  made  to  it,  we  cannot 
but  admire  the  frank  and  honorable  conduct  of  the  patriotic  orator, 
who  did  not  hesitate  to  sustain  a  system  which  experience  must  have 
convinced  him  he  had  erroneously  opposed.  The  eloquence  of  Mr. 
HENRY  has  been  attested  by  evidence  to  which  every  American  will 
yield  conviction.  Unrivalled  in  its  influence,  it  was  one  of  the  causes 
of  the  independence  of  the  country :  the  remembrance  of  it  deserves  to 
be  perpetuated  to  after  ages,  as  one  of  the  most  striking  characteristics 
of  the  contest  for  freedom.  In  recurring  to  the  events  of  that  strug 
gle,  with  the  virtues,  patriotism,  and  heroism  for  which  it  was  con 
spicuous,  will  ever  be  associated  in  grateful  remembrance,  the  impe- 
patriotic,  and  irresistible  eloquence  of  PATRICK  HENRY. 


(G  •  •"•1LIL  SAMS;-" 


JOHN    0  ALB  WELL    «  )  U  N. 


JOHN   CALDWELL    CALHOUK,  of   the 

South,    w  March    1.8th,    l> 

Carolina     His    ^  r,    James    ( 

family  from  -;.led,  in    1783,    it, 

lather.    Pah;  ;-u   six   years  olu 

after  wa 

upon   Bi 

went  to  South  Carolina,  where,  HI  ir.V-   HI.--. 

in  a  place  which   was  caHed   "Calhoun's   s<-r  the 

Cherokee*,  their   immediate   neighbors,  very  soon    ni.  'iem. 

The  snuggle  was  violent.    Half  the  males,  and  among  them,  the  eldest 

brother,  .lames  Calhouu.  who  c  led  on  the  occasion,  fell ;  and, 

after  thr  b  several  of  the  other  female 

and  many  of  th<  wt'^j  \  \   *-he  swivair^f.     Patrick 

by  liic  •  >  j;'Hly  of  rangers" for  the 

defence  < 
Upon  ti 
re-occupied  i] 

In   I7?c 
Charlotte  tv 
New  Jers- 
lutionary  war. 
daughter,  of  whom  the  sul 

one,  and  as  a  tribute  of  respect  t-  ^f  hi^ 

John  Caldwf:!!,  a  zealous  whig-,  who  had  $*•••:>•  <<il<*nitM*i\  •-•«*! ::i»* -r> 4 
by  the  tories,  he  received  the  name  of  Jr.n.\  CAI  i.«^hf-«.  ^%I*.MMI •». 

Both  parents  were  «  y  ««ri   \  irsn. 

was  a  hardy  and  enterpri-  5^, 

he  placed  a  high  value  upon  =  T)- 

self- taught,  and  lived  the  r 
round. 'd  hy  danger,  lie  mn 
and  :•!>  accurate  and  skilful  > -.  ho  k.-.-iir  t«»l- 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

lowed.  He  was  the  first  member  ever  elected  to  the  provincial  legis 
lature  from  the  interior  of  South  Carolina.  Of  this  body,  and  the 
state  legislature,  after  the  revolution,  he  continred  a  member  for 
thirty  years  without  intermission,  except  for  a  single  term,  until  his 
death,  in  1796.  He  was  a  zealous  whiff,  and  a  disinterested  patriot. 
He  opposed  the  adoption  of  the  federal  constitution  on  the  ground 
that  it  conferred  rights  on  Congress  incompatible  with  the  sove 
reignty  of  the  states. 

At  thirteen  years  of  age  young  CALHOUN  was  placed  at  the  aca 
demy  of  his  brother-in-law,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Waddel,  since  so  distin 
guished,  as  a  teacher,  in  the  Southern  states.  The  death  of  his 
father,  however,  interrupted  his  studies,  and  the  academy  ceased  for 
a  time.  He  continued  to  reside  with  Dr.  Waddel,  and  made  ample 
use  of  a  circulating  library,  of  which  his  brother-in  law  was  libra 
rian.  Hither  he  resorted  instinctively,  and  without  any  direction, 
passing  over  lighter,  and,  to  persons  of  his  age,  usually  more  allur 
ing  literature,  fixed  his  attention  upon  history.  With  such  unremit 
ting  industry  did  he  labor,  that  lie  is  said  to  have  read,  in  the  course 
of  fourteen  weeks,  Rolhn's  Ancient  History,  Robertson's  Charles  V. 
and  America,  Voltaire's  Charles  XII.,  the  large  edition  of  Cooke's 
Voyages,  the  first  volume  of  Locke  on  the  Human  Understanding, 
and  several  smaller  works.  Under  this  severe  application,  in  which 
his  meals  and  rest  were  neglected,  his  eyes  were  injured,  his  counte- 
tenance  grew  pallid,  and  his  whole  frame  became  emaciated.  His 
mother,  alarmed  for  his  health,  took  him  home;  where  separation 
from  books,  air  and  exercise  very  soon  reinstated  him  ;  and  to  his 
love  of  books,  succeeded,  by  a  natural  transition,  a  passion  for  the 
sports  of  the  country.  Though  the  progress  of  his  education  was 
now  arrested,  yet  his  new  manner  of  life  laid  the  foundation  of  a 
vigorous  constitution,  and  he  contracted,  also,  that  fondness  for 
agriculture,  which  has  distinguished  so  many  illustrious  names. 

In  the  midst  of  family  arrangements,  and  in  consequence  of  his 
growing  attachment  to  agricultural  pursuits,  JOHN  had  abandoned 
all  thought  of  his  former  studies,  when  his  brother  James,  who  had 
been  placed  in  a  counting  house  in  Charleston,  returned  home  to 
spend  the  summer  of  1800,  and  was  so  struck  with  his  capacity,  that 
he  importuned  him  to  turn  his  attention  at  once  to  a  classical  educa 
tion,  though  it  was  not  till  after  great  persuasion,  that  he  yielded  to 
his  brother's  judgment,  Accordingly  he  proceeded  to  Dr.  Waddel's 
academy,  which  had  been  reopened  in  Columbia  county,  Georgia, 
where,  in  1800,  he  may  properly  be  said  to  have  begun,  at  the  age 


JOHN   CALDWELL   CALHOUN. 

of  eighteen,  a  classical  education.  Here  his  progress  was  so  rapid, 
that  he  was  enabled  to  join  the  junior  class  at  Yale  college  in  the 
autumn  of  1802. 

In  that  institution  he  took  a  high  grade  in  all  the  studies;  but, 
though  he  did  not  want  imagination  and  taste,  he  was  peculiarly 
distinguished  by  the  depth  and  quickness  of  his  intellect.  He  dif 
fered  widely  from  Dr.  Dwight,  the  eminent  individual,  who  presided 
over  the  college,  in  political  opinions,  and,  although  they  had  frequent 
discussions,  they  were  always  of  a  friendly  character.  It  is  related 
that  in  the  course  of  a  recitation  in  Paley's  Philosophy,  the  Doctor 
expressed  a  doubt,  "  whether  the  consent  of  the  governed,  was  the 
only  just  origin  of  legitimate  government?"  This  caused  an  ani 
mated  debate  between  him  and  his  pupil  which  held  the  class  in 
delighted  suspense  till  dinner,  in  the  course  of  which  the  student 
evinced  such  depth  of  thought,  and  such  power  of  argument  and 
eloquence,  that  his  celebrated  preceptor  predicted  his  future  rise. 
"  That  young  man,"  he  said  to  a  friend.  "  has  talents  enough  to  be 
president  of  the  United  States." 

Just  four  yrars  after  commencing  the  Latin  grammar,  he  gradu 
ated  with  the  highest  honors,  at  the  head  of  a  large  and  talented 
class,  but  was  prevented  by  sickness  from  delivering  his  oration,  the 
subject  of  which  was  "  The  qualifications  necessary  to  a  perfect 
statesman." 

After  enrolling  himself,  on  his  return  home,  a  student  of  law  with 
H.  W.  Desaussure,  he  returned  to  New  England,  and  entered  the 
Litchfield  law  school,  where  for  eighteen  mouths  under  the  Judges 
Reeve  and  Gould,  he  made  great  advancement.  The  morning  was 
devoted  to  law,  the  rest  of  the  day  to  general  literature  aud  political 
science,  and  he  cultivated  with  especial  care,  extemporaneous 
speaking.  It  was  in  the  debating  society  of  this  place,  where  the 
most  agitating  political  topics  of  the  day  were  discussed  before 
crowded  meetings,  that  Mr.  CALHOUN  who  was  ever  the  champion 
of  the  republican  side,  first  developed  his  ^reat  powers  of  parliamen 
tary  debate.  It  was  his  custom,  even  then,  to  prepare  by  reflection, 
and  not  by  arranging  on  paper,  what  he  meant  to  say,  nor  by  taking 
notes  of  the  arguments  of  others.  A  good  memory  preserved  the 
order  of  his  own  thoughts,  arid  a  wonderful  power  of  analysis  and 
classification  enabled  him  to  digest  rapidly,  and  distribute  in  their 
proper  places,  the  answer  and  refutation  of  all  the  arguments  of  the 
speakers,  however  numerous,  whom  he  followed. 

In  1806,  he  returned  to  South  Carolina,  and  in  1807  commenced, 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

in  his  native  district,  a  lucrative  practice,  ranking,  from  the  very 
outset,  with  the  most  eminent  lawyers  in  his  circuit.  An  incident 
occurred  about  this  time,  which  brought  him  into  distinguished 
notice.  The  affair  of  the  Chesapeake  had  just  created  great  excite 
ment  throughout  the  south:  a  meeting  of  the  people  was  called  at 
Abbeville  court  house,  and  Mr.  CALHOUN  was  one  of  the  committee 
appointed  to  draft  an  address  and  resolutions.  He  was  requested  also 
to  address  the  meeting.  The  day  arrived — the  assembly  was  large. 
It  was  his  first  appearance  before  the  public,  and  trying  as  was  the 
situation,  he  acquitted  himself  in  a  manner  that  excited  enthusiastic 
approbation.  Soon  after  he  was  proposed  as  a  candidate  for  the 
next  legislature,  and  in  spite  of  a  prejudice  which  for  years  had  pre 
vented  the  election  of  a  lawyer,  he  was  chosen  by  an  overwhelming 
majority.  Here,  during  two  successive  sessions,  he  took  the  lead  in 
every  matter  of  importance,  and  eminently  distinguished  himself  for 
that  political  foresight  and  sagacity,  for  which  he  has  ever  been  so 
remarkable. 

He  took  his  seat  in  congress  in  the  autumn  of  1811,  at  the  com 
mencement  of  the  first  session  of  the  twelfth  congress,  having  been 
elected  by  a  vast  majority  to  represent  the  district  composed  of  Abbe 
ville,  Newberry,  and  Laurens.  His  reputation  had  preceded  him,  and 
he  was  placed  at  once  second  on  the  committee  of  foreign  affairs, 
which  was  at  that  juncture  the  most  important.  An  able  report,  on 
which  the  discussions  of  the  session  chiefly  turned,  recommended  an 
immediate  appeal  to  arms,  and  Mr.  CALHOUN'S  first  eifort  in  con 
gress  was,  in  sustaining  the  measures  recommended,  to  reply  to  a 
most  able  and  eloquent  speech  of  John  Randolph,  also  a  member  of 
the  committee,  and  one  of  t':e  most  sagacious  opponents  and  power 
ful  ordtors,  which  this  or  any  country  ever  boasted.  Public  excite 
ment  was  strong,  the  house  crowded,  arid  the  orator,  rising  with  the 
greatness  of  the  occasion,  delivered  a  speech,  which,  for  lofty  patri 
otism,  cogent  reasoning,  and  soul-stirring  eloquence,  has  seldom  been 
equalled.  It  met  unbounded  and  universal  applause.  He  was  com 
pared  to  "one  of  the  old  sages  of  the  old  congress,  with  the  graces 
of  youth,'*  and  the  "youn^  Carolinian"  was  hailed  as  "one  of  the 
master  spirits,  who  stamp  their  name  upon  the  age  in  which  they 
live." 

Early  in  the  session  General  Porter  retired  from  congress,  and 
Mr.  CALHOUN  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  committee  on  foreign 
relations,  which  committee,  in  addition  to  their  appropriate  duties, 
were  called  upon  to  report  bills  to  carry  into  effect  the  military  pre- 


JOHN  CALDWELL  CALHOUN. 

paratlons  they  had  recommended.  Thus,  by  circumstances,  as  wel) 
as  by  preeminent  ability,  was  he  at  this  early  period  at  the  head  of 
the  party  in  the  house  of  representatives,  which  sustained  the  war 
with  England. 

It  was  at  this  momentous  period  he  delivered  one  of  his  best 
speeches,  from  which  a  short  passage  may  be  here  extracted,  as  well 
because  it  evinced  his  profound  and  philosophical  character  of  mind, 
as  the  independence  of  spirit,  which  could  not  in  all  cases,  submit 
to  the  trammels  of  party,  and  led  him  to  differ,  in  common  with  his 
able  and  virtuous  colleague,  Lowndes,  from  the  administration,  on 
the  subject  of  the  restrictive  system  and  the  navy.  In  speaking  of  the 
embargo,  he  says,  — "  I  object  to  the  restrictive  system  because  it 
does  not  suit  the  genius  of  the  people,  nor  that  of  the  government, 
nor  the  geographical  character  of  our  country.  We  are  a  people 
essentially  active.  I  may  say  we  are  preeminently  so.  No  passive 
system  can  suit  such  a  people  ;  in  action  superior  to  all  others  ;  in 
patient  endurance  inferior  to  many.  Nor  does  it  suit  the  genius  of 
our  government.  Our  government  is  founded  on  freedom,  and  hates 
coercion.  To  make  the  restrictive  system  effective,  requires  the 
most  arbitrary  laws.  England,  with  the  severest  statutes,  has  not 
been  able  to  exclude  prohibited  articles  ;  and  Napoleon,  with  all  his 
power  and  vigilance,  was  obliged  to  resort  to  the  most  barbarous 
laws  to  enforce  his  continental  system.  This  nation  ought  to  be 
taught  to  rely  on  its  own  courage,  its  fortitude,  its  skill,  and  virtue 
for  protection.  These  are  the  only  safeguards  in  the  hour  of  dan 
ger.  Man  was  endowed  with  these  great  qualities  for  his  defence. 
There  is  nothing  about  him  that  indicates  that  he  is  to  conquer  by 
endurance;  he  is  not  encrusted  in  a  shell ;  he  is  not  taught  to  rely 
upon  his  insensibility,  his  passive  suffering,  for  defence.  No,  sir,  it 
is  on  the  invincible  mind,  on  a  magnanimous  nature,  he  ought  to 
rely.  Here  is  the  superiority  of  our  kind ;  it  is  these  that  render 
man  the  lord  of  the  world.  It  is  the  destiny  of  his  condition  that 
nations  rise  above  nations  as  they  are  endowed  in  a  greater  degree 
with  these  brilliant  qualities." 

To  trace  Mr.  CALHOUN'S  course  or  to  recount  his  services  during 
the  war,  would  fill  a  volume.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  in  the  lead 
ing  position  of  chairman  of  the  committee  of  foreign  relations,  in  a 
complication  of  adverse  circumstances,  during  the  gloom  of  that 
contest,  calculated  to  overwhelm  the  feeble  and  appal  the  stoutest, 
against  a  weight  and  ardor  of  opposition  unknown  to  the  congress 
of  the  revolution,  he  never  faltered,  never  doubted,  never  despaired 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

of  the  republic ;  but  by  his  genius  and  wisdom,  patriotism  and  un 
shaken  firmness,  he  rose  conspicuous  in  the  constellation  of  talents 
which  distinguished  both  sides,  and  arousing  his  countrymen  to 
action  by  the  most  animating  strains  of  eloquence,  made  himself  the 
chief  support  of  the  "  second  war  of  independence,"  and  finally  tri 
umphed  in  the  sunshine  of  glory  which  burst  upon  his  country  a 
its  termination. 

At  this  period  the  army,  the  navy,  and  the  revenue  had  grown 
beyond  the  wants  of  peace,  and  the  currency  was  deranged  beyond 
all  former  example,  except  at  the  close  of  the  war  of  the  revolution. 
These  subjects  gave  birth  to  momentous  questions.  Of  them  the  first 
was  the  military  peace  establishment,  about  which  there  was  great 
diversity  of  opinion.  Mr.  CALHOUN  contended  that  a  small  peace 
establishment  was  most  congenial  with  the  institutions  of  the  coun 
try,  and  that  the  great  point  was  to  have  it  permanent  and  well 
organized,  an  object  which  he  afterwards  effectually  accomplished 
while  secretary  of  war. 

The  other  important  subjects  were  deferred  till  the  following  ses 
sion,  when  Mr.  CALHOUN  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  committee 
on  currency.  Events  which  took  place  at  the  preceding  session, 
had  designated  him  for  the  place,  as  he  had  then  successfully  resisted 
the  project  of  a  non-specie-paying  bank,  (devised  principally  with 
a  view  to  enable  the  government  to  raise  loans  for  the  prosecution 
of  the  war,)  under  the  conviction  that  such  a  bank,  by  reason  of 
those  loans,  would  on  the  return  of  peace  be  enlisted  against  the 
resumption  of  specie  payments,  and  that  its  influence  united  with 
that  of  the  state  banks  would  defeat  the  efforts  of  congress  to  re 
establish  a  sound  currency.  He  believed  that  it  was  intended  by 
the  constitution,  to  place  the  currency  under  the  control  of  the 
general  government,  and  that  the  power  over  it  was  delegated  to 
congress,  and  was  not  a  right  reserved  to  the  states.  Nothing  could 
exceed  the  derangement  of  the  currency  at  the  termination  of  the 
war,  when  that  power  was  exclusively  exercised  by  the  states,  and 
the  notes  of  banks  incorporated  by  them  which  could  not  be  con 
verted  into  specie,  and  were  depreciated  according  to  circumstances 
from  one  to  twenty  per  cent.,  constituted  the  currency  in  which  the 
public  dues  were  collected,  the  public  creditors  paid,  and  the  moneyed 
transactions  of  the  country  carried  on.  After  a  full  examination  of 
the  various  remedies  proposed  for  so  fearful  a  disease,  which 
threatened  the  union  itself,  it  was  believed  by  the  committee,  that 
the  only  practicable  means  of  restoring  a  sound  currency,  and  plac- 


JOHN   CALDWELL   CALHOUN. 

ihg  it  under  the  constitutional  control  of  the  general  government, 
was  the  establishment  of  a  bank  of  sufficient  capital  on  sound  prin 
ciples,  bound  to  redeem  its  notes  in  cash,  which,  by  its  influence  and 
aid,  would  at  once  compel  and  assist  the  state  banks  to  return  to 
specie  payments.  A  bill  in  conformity  with  this  belief,  was  reported 
by  Mr.  CALHOUN,  and  with  such  forcible  arguments  did  he  sustain 
it;  so  clearly  did  he  demonstrate  the  unconstitutional  condition  of 
the  currency;  so  manifestly  did  he  prove  its  danger  and  injustice, 
and  that  there  was  no  other- feasible  remedy  in  the  power  of  the 
house,  that  in  spite  of  the  opposing  influence  of  the  state  banks,  the 
constitutional  scruples  of  many  of  the  members,  and  the  resistance 
of  a  number  of  the  leaders  of  the  opposition,  he  succeeded  in  effect 
ing  the  passage  of  the  bill,  though  it  was  well  ascertained  that  a 
decided  majority  was  opposed  to  it  at  its  introduction.  Of  this 
powerful  speech,  nothing  remains  but  an  imperfect  skeleton. 

Beside  the  revenue  bill,  which  gave  rise  to  a  debate  on  the  state 
of  the  union,  involving  a  discussion  of  the  policy  of  the  country  in 
time  of  peace,  in  which  Mr.  CALHOUN  made  one  of  the  most  splen 
did  displays  of  parliamentary  eloquence  ever  exhibited  before  con 
gress  ;  other  important  subjects  arose  during  the  session,  in  all  which 
he  took  a  prominent  part.  But  the  lofty  course  pursued  by  him  in 
regard  to  the  "  famous  compensation  law,"  very  strongly  marks  his 
character,  and  may,  perhaps,  be  best  judged  of,  from  the  following 
eulogiurn  pronounced  by  a  strong  political  opponent.  Mr.  Gros- 
venor  said  "  he  had  heard  with  peculiar  satisfaction,  the  able,  manly, 
and  constitutional  speech  of  the  gentleman  from  South  Carolina." 
Here  Mr.  Grosvenor,  recurring  in  his  own  mind  to  a  personal 
difference  with  Mr.  CALHOUN,  which  arose  during  the  war — paused 
a  moment,  and  then  proceeded,  —  "Mr.  Speaker,  I  will  not  be  restrain 
ed — no  barrier  shall  exist,  which  T  will  not  leap  over,  for  the  purpose 
of  offering  to  that  gentleman  my  thanks  for  the  judicious,  independ 
ent,  and  national  course  which  he  has  pursued  in  the  house  for  the 
last  two  years,  and  particularly  on  the  subject  now  before  us.  Let 
the  honorable  gentleman  continue  with  the  same  independence,  aloof 
from  party  views  and  local  prejudices,  to  pursue  the  great  interests 
of  his  country,  and  fulfil  the  high  destiny  for  which  it  is  manifest 
he  was  born.  The  buzz  of  popular  applause  may  not  cheer  him  on 
the  way,  but  he  will  inevitably  arrive  at  a  high  and  happy  elevation 
in  the  view  of  his  country  and  the  world." 

In  December,  1817,  Mr.  CALHOUN  was  appointed  by  Mr.  Monroe 
to  the  office  of  secretary  of  war.     Here  was  a  new  theatre  :  hi«  r.on 

7  LI 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

gressional  career  of  six  years  had  been  brilliant ;  as  a  legislator  and 
as  an  orator  he  stood  on  a  proud  elevation  before  his  country,  and 
now  his  capacity  for  administration  was  to  be  tested.  Such  was  the 
deranged  state  of  the  department,  the  vast  accumulation  of  its  busi 
ness,  and  its  imperfect  organization,  that  many  friends  dissuaded  him 
irorn  occupying"  a  post  of  so  much  danger.  Space  will  not  permit 
even  a  sketch  of  the  history  of  his  administration  of  the  war  depart 
ment  during  seven  years.  He  found  it,  in  all  its  branches,  in  confu 
sion,  and  left  it  in  complete  order.  He  lound  upwards  of  forty  millions 
of  dollars  of  unsettled  accounts,  which  he  reduced  to  less  than  three 
millions,  and  he  completely  prevented  all  further  accumulation  by 
the  unexampled  exactness  of  accountability  which  he  introduced  into 
every  branch  of  the  disbursements,  and  in  consequence  of  which  he 
was  enabled  to  report  to  congress  in  1823,  that,  "  of  the  entire  amount 
of  money  drawn  from  the  treasury  in  1822,  for  the  military  ser 
vice,  including  pensions,  amounting  to  four  million  five  hundred  and 
seventy-one  thousand  nine  hundred  and  sixty  one  dollars  and  ninety- 
four  cents,  although  it  passed  through  the  hands  of  two  hundred 
and  ninety-one  disbursing  agents,  there  had  not  been  a  single  defal 
cation,  nor  the  loss  of  a  cent  to  the  government;  and  that  he  had 
reduced  the  expense  of  the  army  from  four  hundred  and  fiity-one 
dollars  per  man,  to  two  hundred  and  eighty-seven  dollars,  and 
thereby  saved  to  the  country  annually  more  than  one  million  three 
hundred  thousand  dollars. 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  all  this  was  effected  under  adverse 
circumstances;  when  Mr.  CALHOUN,  who  had  been  brought  forward 
as  a  candidate  for  the  presidency,  had  to  encounter  misrepresenta 
tions,  and  a  violent  opposition  to  almost  every  measure  he  proposed 
for  the  improvement  of  the  department.  In  fact  it  is  only  by  the 
perfect  order  and  system  brought  into  the  department,  that  it  is  pos 
sible  to  explain  how  Mr.  CALHOUN  found  time  for  preparing  his 
numerous  reports,  which  are  not  surpassed  in  ability  by  our  ablest 
public  documents,  particularly  those  on  our  Indian  affairs,  internal 
improvements,  and  the  reduction  of  the  army  ;  for  the  despatch  ol 
the  immense  mass  of  unsettled  accounts  of  the  war ;  for  the  exami 
nation  of  the  claims  for  revolutionary  pensions  ;  the  thorough  resus 
citation  of  the  military  academy;  the  establishment  of  discipline  and 
rigid  economy  in  the  army;  a  complete  reorganization,  which  gave 
us,  at  the  expense  of  a  force  of  six  thousand  men,  so  officered  as  to 
be  capable  of  prompt  enlargement,  a  peace  establishment  having  the 
military  capacity,  and  defensive  power  of  thirty  thousand ;  the  sur- 


JOHN  CALDWELL  CALHOUN. 

vey  of  our  maritime  frontier;  the  institution  of  a  system  of  perma 
nent  fortifications  for  our  coasts;  the  establishment  of  a  cordon  of 
military  posts,  stretching  from  the  upper  lakes  around  our  western 
frontier  ;  and,  finally,  for  his  duties  as  a   leading  and   influential 
member  of  Mr.  Monroe's  able  and  enlightened  cabinet. 

In  the  second  term  of  Mr.  Monroe's  presidency,  the  question  of 
the  choice  of  a  successor  agitated  the  country,  and  Mr.  CALHOUN'S 
name  was  brought  forward  with  those  of  four  other  distinguished 
candidates.  Events  had  turned  the  controversy,  so  far  as  he  was 
concerned,  more  particularly  between  his  friends  and  those  of  Mr. 
Crawford,  on  the  subject  of  a  congressional  caucus,  as  the  means  of 
designating  the  chief  magistrate.  Mr.  CALHOUN  believing  that,  in 
consequence  of  the  great  increase  of  the  patronage  of  the  govern 
ment,  it  was  dangerous  to  place  thus  in  the  power  of  the  president, 
the  choice  of  his  successor,  through  his  influence  over  the  members 
of  congress,  took  a  decided  stand  against  it.  In  the  progress  of  the 
canvass,  Mr.  CALHOUN'S  name  was  withdrawn  so  as  to  strengthen 
the  probability  of  a  choice  by  the  people,  and  consequently  to  lessen 
the  hazard  of  the  election  being  devolved  upon  the  house  of  repre 
sentatives.  The  contest  terminated  in  returning  General  Jackson, 
Mr.  Adams,  and  Mr.  Crawford  as  the  three  highest  candidates  to  the 
house,  and  the  election  of  Mr.  CALIIOUN  by  a  large  majority  of  the 
people  as  vice-president.  We  cannot  dwell  on  the  events  which 
succeeded.  During  the  whole  canvass  Mr.  CALHOUN  bore  very 
kind  personal  and  political  relations  with  both  the  leading  candi 
dates  ;  but  acting  on  the  principle  which  had  placed  him  in  opposi 
tion  to  a  congressional  caucus,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  avow  his 
opinion  that  the  members  of  the  house,  in  discharging  the  high 
duties  devolved  on  them,  ought  to  act  in  reference  and  subordination 
to  the  will  of  the  people.  He  was  necessarily,  therefore,  placed  in 
the  opposition,  which  at  the  end  of  the  term,  overthrew  the  adminis 
tration,  and  terminated  in  the  election  of  General  Jackson  as  presi 
dent,  and  the  reelection  of  himself  as  vice-president. 

It  is  admitted  that  Mr.  CALHOUN  conferred  upon  the  vice-presi 
dency  a  dignity  and  character  worthy  of  the  station.  His  decisions 
gave  universal  satisfaction  with  one  exception,  the  circumstances  of 
which  were  remarkable,  viz.,  his  decision  in  regard  to  the  power  of 
the  vice-president,  as  presiding  officer  of  the  senate,  to  call  a  senator 
to  order  for  words  spoken  in  debate.  The  senate  at  no  period  had 
been  in  such  a  state  of  excitement.  Mr.  CALHOUN  was  known  to  be 
opposed  to  the  administration.  It  was  the  first  case  which  had 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

occurred,  and  the  principle  on  which  the  decision  rested  was  novel. 
The  constitution  gives  each  house  the  power  of  establishing  its  rules 
of  proceeding,  and  there  existed  at  this  time  no  rule  in  the  senate 
which  gave  the  vice-president  the  power  in  question.  Accordingly, 
while  those  who  took  the  opposite  view  contended  that  the  vice- 
president  possessed  this  power  inherently  under  the  constitution,  as 
the  presiding  officer  of  the  body,  Mr.  CALHOUN  decided  that  as  the 
rules  did  not  confer  the  power,  either  expressly  or  by  implication, 
he  did  not  possess  it,  believing  if  he  possessed  it  under  the  constitu 
tion  there  could  be  no  appeal  to  the  senate,  and  the  freedom  of 
debate  in  that  body  would  depend  upon  the  pleasure  of  an  officer 
who  held  his  place  independent  of  it.  Satisfied  with  the  correctness 
of  his  decision,  Mr.  CALHOUN  evinced  not  the  slightest  impatience 
at  the  clamor  which  followed.  He  calmly  and  confidently  left  his 
conduct  to  abide  the  result  of  cooler,  and  more  mature  investigation. 
The  result  has  proved  that  a  good  cause  may  be  left  to  the  quiet 
operation  of  time.  After  the  lapse  of  two  years,  the  senate,  without 
any  movement  of  his  friends  took  up  the  subject,  and  after  a  full 
examination  and  discussion,  Mr.  CALHOUN'S  decision  received  the 
deliberate  sanction  of  that  body. 

In  a  work  like  that  before  the  reader,  it  is  neither  desira 
ble  or  necessary  to  give  even  a  succinct  narrative  of  Mr.  CALHOUN'S 
course  as  connected  with  public  events,  and  accordingly  we  pass 
over  the  measures  adopted  by  General  Jackson  on  his  accession  to 
power,  the  position  in  which  Mr.  CALHOUN  was  placed  in  relation 
to  him  politically  in  consequence  of  those  measures,  the  rupture  of 
their  political  and  private  relations,  the  correspondence  to  which  it 
gave  rise,  the  character  of  that  correspondence,  and  the  vindication  of 
his  own  conduct  which  it  contains.  We  pass  over  all  these  and 
come  to  that  portion  of  his  political  life  which  his  friends  confidently 
believe  will  hereafter  be  the  most  distinguished,  and  will  most 
strongly  mark  his  character  with  posterity.  We  mean  that  which 
followed  the  passage  of  the  tariff  of  1828,  and  the  part  which  he  felt 
himself  compelled  to  take  in  resistance  to  what  he  considered  an 
unconstitutional  and  oppressive  act,  in  order  to  arrest  a  course  of 
events  which  he  clearly  perceived,  at  that  early  period,  would  grow 
out  of  the  measure,  and  which  he  was  under  a  deep  conviction 
would  terminate,  if  not  arrested,  in  the  destruction  of  the  liberty  and 
the  constitution  of  the  country,  or  in  the  dissolution  of  the  union. 
Apprehending,  from  what  he  saw  in  the  passage  of  the  tariff  act  of 
l  828,  that  the  expectations  of  the  friends  of  an  equal  system  of  benefits 


JOHN  CALDWELL  CALHOUN. 

and  burdens  in  reference  to  the  protective  system,  and  a  thorough  re 
formation  of  the  government  and  restoration  of  the  constitution  to  its 
primitive  principles,  which  he  deemed  necessary  to  the  preservation  of 
the  country,  could  not  be  realized  in  any  other  way,  he  turned  his 
attention  from  that  time  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  states  and  their  re 
served  rights  as  the  only  certain  means  of  effecting  these  objects,  the 
salvation  of  our  institutions,  and  of  the  union.  The  result  was,  that 
view  of  our  system  which  recognizes  in  each  state,  as  a  sovereign 
party  to  the  political  compact,  a  right  to  declare  an  act  of  congress, 
which  it  believes  to  be  unconstitutional,  to  be  null  and  void,  and  of 
course  not  obligatory  upon  its  citizens,  and  to  arrest  the  execution  of 
such  an  act  within  its  limits.  This  doctrine,  which  was  rendered  so 
unpopular  under  the  name  of  nullification,  is  maintained  to  be  clearly 
contained  in  the  Virginia  and  Kentucky  resolutions,  and  is  more  fully 
stated  and  carried  out  in  the  discussions  to  which  it  gave  rise  in  the  con 
troversy  between  South  Carolina  and  the  general  government.  In 
these  discussions  the  papers  prepared  by  Mr.  CALHOUN,  constitute  a 
striking  part. 

The  first  of  these  papers  attributed  to  him,  is  the  exposition  of  the 
South  Carolina  legislature  in  the  session  of  1828,  in  which  a  full  and 
very  original  view  is  taken  of  the  relations  between  the  states  and  the 
general  government,  and  the  operation  of  the  protective  system  as 
affecting  unequally  the  two  great  sections  of  the  union.  This  was 
followed,  in  1830,  by  a  statement  drawn  up  by  Mr.  CALHOUN,  contain 
ing  his  opinion  on  the  relations  between  the  state  and  the  general 
government,  in  deference  to  public  opinion,  wrhich  seemed  to  demand 
an  exposition  of  his  views  on  a  subject  which  then  began  so  deeply  to 
agitate  the  country.  The  open  avowal  of  doctrines  then  considered 
by  many  as  little  short  of  treason,  which  he  knew  would  separate  hirr 
from  many  of  his  political  friends,  on  a  conviction  of  duty,  and  without 
regard  to  the  effect  it  would  have  upon  his  popularity,  required  a 
firmness  of  purpose  and  a  deep  and  solemn  sense  of  duty  which  few 
possessed.  Subsequently,  at  Governor  Hamilton's  request,  he  addressed 
him  a  letter  in  which  the  subject  is  more  amply  discussed,  and  which 
acquired  for  Mr.  CALHOUN  a  reputation  for  ability  and  candor  even 
among  those  who  did  not  approve  his  doctrine. 

The  payment  of  the  public  debt,  without  a  satisfactory  adjustment 
of  the  tariff,  brought  on  a  cri:  is  which  will  long  be  remembered. 
South  Carolina  carried  out  her  doctrine ;  a  convention  of  the  people 
was  called  in  their  sovereign  capacity,  and  the  protective  acts  declared 
unconstitutional  and  therefore  void,  and  no  law.  At  the  call  of  his 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

state,  Mr.  CALHOUN  resigned  his  office  of  vice-president  of  the  United 
States,  and  was  elected  senator  in  congress,  and  took  his  seat  in  that 
body  to  defend  her  cause,  which  he  believed  to  be  the  cause  of  liberty 
and  the  constitution.  His  re-appearance,  after  so  many  years,  on  the 
floor  of  a  deliberative  body,  was  under  circumstances  the  most  trying 
that  can  be  conceived.  He  and  his  colleague  stood  almost  alone.  The 
cause  was  universally  unpopular,  and  regarded  as  synonymous  with 
disunion  and  treason.  Under  these  circumstances,  with  all  the  disad 
vantage  of  not  having  spoken  in  a  public  assembly  for  more  than 
sixteen  years,  he  had  to  meet  the  joint  array  of  the  talents,  both  of 
the  administration,  and  of  the  opposition. 

In  this  trying  juncture  he  acquitted  himself  so  well,  that  the  ti;le  of 
public  opinion  which  so  strongly  set  against  him  at  the  beginning  of 
the  session  turned  in  his  favor,  and  those  not  convinced  by  his  argu 
ments,  felt  at  least  a  conviction  of  his  sincerity,  integrity,  and 
patriotism.  The  contest  was  mainly  between  Mr.  CALHOUN  and  the 
distinguished  senator  from  Massachusetts,  Mr,  Webster,  the  principal 
point  in  issue  between  whom  was  finally  reduced  to  the  naked  question, 
whether  our  constitution  is,  or  is  riot  a  compact  between  the  states,  the 
latter  admitting  that  if  it  be  a  compact,  the  doctrines  contended  for 
by  the  former  followed  as  necessary  consequences.  Mr.  CALHOUN'S 
conduct  gave  entire  satisfaction  to  his  constituents,  and  paved  the  way 
for  the  eventual  success  of  the  principles  of  free  trade. 

It  is  not  possible  that  we  can  here  fully  describe  the  labors  or  the 
speeches  of  Mr.  CALHOUN  on  the  subjects  of  the  bank,  the  repeal  of 
the  force  bill,  the  reception  of  petitions  on  the  abolition  of  slavery,  the 
public  lands,  the  treasury  law,  the  tariff,  the  Ashburton  treaty,  and 
many  other  subjects,  up  to  the  time  of  the  resignation  of  his  seat  in  the 
senate,  in  1843.  Neither  can  we  discuss  his  conduct  in  reference  to 
the  annexation  of  Texas,  after  he  had  been  called  by  President  Tyler 
to  the  high  office  of  secretary  of  state,  made  vacant  by  the  calamitous 
death  of  Mr.  Upshur.  Nor  does  it  comport  with  our  plan  to  expatiate 
on  his  resignation  of  that  office,  his  declinature  of  a  mission  to  England, 
or  his  return  to  the  senate  as  the  result  of  the  earnest  desires  of  the 
whole  South.  These,  and  his  final  labors  on  the  subject  of  slavery, 
are  all  too  well  known  to  need  that  another  line  should  be  added  to 
this  sketch  of  his  leading  actions  as  a  politician.  It  has  been  well  said 
that  his  public  acts  need  not  be  detailed,  for  they  will  be  woven  into  the 
history  of  the  nation ;  nor  need  we  enumerate  his  orations,  for  they 
have  become  a  portion  of  American  literature. 

A  life  of  vigorous  and  incessant  labor  might  well  bring  Mr.  CALHOUN 


JOHN  CALDWELL  CALHOUN. 

at  sixty-height  into  a  state  of  rapid  decay.  The  slavery  question  was 
the  last  subject  which  occupied  his  public  life,  and  his  last  attempt 
was  made  in  seeking  an  alteration  of  the  constitution  on  this  subject. 
He  had  an  unconquerable  dread  that  the  South  would  be  driven  to 
secede  from  the  Union.  He  was  compelled  to  retire  from  the  senate 
hall  to  die.  His  friends  visited  him  to  see  how  intense  and  earnest 
thought  had  brought  down  the  frail  body  to  ruin  and  death. 

Dr.  John  B.  Calhoun,  who  is  an  eminent  physician,  was  in  constant 
attendance  on  his  honored  father  for  several  weeks  previous  to  his  death, 
and  was  kindly  aided  by  the  almost  filial  friendship  of  many  of  the  most 
eminent  members  of  the  profession.  On  the  30th  of  March,  1850,  it 
could  no  longer  be  doubted  that  the  hours  of  the  great  statesman  were 
numbered  ;  but  though  more  restless  and  weak  than  he  had  ever  before 
been,  he  sat  up  about  two  hours  during  the  day,  and  talked  on  the 
topic  which  absorbed  his  mind.  Soon  after  midnight,  his  breath  be 
came  so  heavy  as  to  alarm  his  son,  and  his  pulse  was  very  low,  but  he 
refused  to  take  any  more  stimulants  ;  at  about  two  o'clock,  he  called 
his  son,  to  whom  he  held  out  his  arm,  and  remarked  that  there  was  no 
pulsation  at  the  wrist.  He  gave  several  directions  as  to  his  watch  and 
papers,  and  in  reply  to  an  inquiry,  said,  "  I  am  perfectly  comfortable." 
These  were  his  last  words.  Shortly  before  six  o'clock  on  the  morning 
of  the  3 1st,  he  made  a  sign  to  his  son  to  approach  his  bed;  and  ex 
tending  his  hand,  he  grasped  that  of  his  son,  looked  him  intently  in  the 
face,  and  moved  his  lips,  but  was  unable  to  articulate.  Other  friends 
were  summoned  to  his  bed-side,  who  saw  him  perfectly  conscious  of 
his  condition,  his  eyes  retained  their  brightness,  and  his  countenance 
its  natural  expression.  Thus  he  drew  a  deep  inspiration,  his  eyes 
closed,  arid  his  spirit  passed  calmly  to  its  home. 

Judge  Butler,  his  friend  and  colleague,  impressively  announced  his 
death  in  the  senate ;  and  affecting  addresses  were  also  made  by  his 
great  rivals  in  talents  and  fame,  Henry  Clay,  and  Daniel  Webster. 
On  the  3d  of  April,  the  funeral  ceremonies  were  performed  ;  and  his 
remains,  accompanied  by  a  committee  of  the  senate,  were  conveyed  to 
Charleston,  where  a  whole  people  met  them  in  tears.  His  body  was 
committed  to  the  dust,  but  the  creations  of  his  mighty  rnind  yet  live 
to  bless  his  country,  and  to  call  forth  its  gratitude. 

Mr.  CALHOUN  was  married  in  May,  1811,  to  a  cousin,  Miss  Florida 
Calhoun,  the  daughter  of  John  Ewing  Calhoun,  formerly  a  senator  in 
congress,  from  South  Carolina.  They  had  a  numerous  family.  Mrs. 
Calhoun  survived  her  husband,  and  was  much  admired  for  the  quiet, 
unassuming,  but  dignified  ease  of  her  manners,  and  is  remembered  with 

13 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

affection  and  regret,  by  the  private  circles  of  Washington,  once 
adorned  by  her  presence,  but  from  which  she  also  has  been  forever 
withdrawn  by  the  hand  of  death. 

As  a  man,  Mr.  CALHOUN  presented  a  tall  and  commanding  person, 
slender  but  firm;  his  features  were  singularly  harsh  and  angular,  so  that 
Harriet  Martineau  described  him  as  the  cast  iron  man,  "who  looked 
as  if  he  had  never  been  born;"  his  forehead  was  broad,  tolerably  high 
and  compact,  denoting  the  mass  of  brain  behind  it ;  and  his  eyes, 
which  presented  the  most  striking  peculiarity  about  him,  were  large, 
brilliant,  and  dark  blue  in  color.  When  in  repose  beseemed  unfeeling, 
or  at  least  lost  in  abstraction  ;  but  when  excited,  the  fire  of  genius 
blazed  from  his  eye,  and  every  feature  showed  thought  and  character 
strongly  defined.  He  had  none  of  the  cautious  reserve  and  mystery 
of  common  politicians ;  but  was  accessible,  instructive  and  eloquent 
in  his  conversation.  Until  he  had  passed  his  grand  climacteric,  he 
wore  his  hair  tolerably  short,  and  brushed  it  back  so  that  it  stood 
erect  on  the  top  of  his  head,  as  in  our  portrait,  but  towards  the  close 
of  his  life  he  allowed  it  to  grow  long,  and  to  fall  in  heavy  masses  over 
his  temples. 

"  His  character,"  says  Mr.  Jenkins,  his  biographer,  "  was  marked 
and  decided,  not  prematurely  exhibiting  its  peculiarities,  yet  formed 
and  perfected  at  an  early  age.  He  was  firm  and  prompt,  manly  and 
independent.  His  sentiments  were  noble  and  elevated,  and  everything 
mean  or  groveling  was  foreign  to  his  nature.  He  was  easy  in  his 
manners,  and  affable  and  dignified.  His  attachments  were  warm  and 
enduring ;  he  did  not  manifest  his  affection  with  enthusiastic  fervor, 
but  with  deep  earnestness  and  sincerity.  He  was  kind,  generous  and 
charitable ;  honest  and  frank ;  faithful  to  his  friends,  but  somewhat 
inclined  to  be  unforgiving  to  his  enemies.  He  was  attached  to  his 
principles  and  prejudices  with  equal  tenacity ;  and  when  he  had 
adopted  an  opinion,  so  strong  was  his  reliance  upon  the  correctness  of 
his  own  judgment,  that  he  often  doubted  the  wisdom  and  sincerity  of 
those  who  disagreed  with  him.  He  never  shrunk  from  the  performance 
of  any  duty,  however  painful  it  might  be, — that  it  was  a  duty,  was 
sufficient  for  him.  He  possessed  pride  of  character  in  no  ordinary  de 
gree,  and,  withal  not  a  little  vanity,  which  is  said  always  to  accompany 
true  genius.  His  devotion  to  the  South  was  not  sectional,  so  much  as 
it  was  the  natural  consequence  of  his  views  with  reference  to  the  theory 
of  the  government ;  and  his  patriotism,  like  his  fame,  was  coextensive 
with  the  Union." 

In  all  his  domestic  relations  the  life  of  Mr.  CALHOUN  was  without  a 

14 


JOHN  CALDWELL  CALHOUN. 

blemish.  His  habits,  like  those  of  most  truly  great  men,  were  all 
simple.  When  at  home,  he  was  an  early  riser,  and,  if  the  weather 
allowed,  took  a  walk  over  his  farm.  He  breakfasted  at  half  past 
seven,  and  then  retired  to  his  study,  and  wrote  till  three.  After  din 
ner  he  read  or  conversed  with  his  family  till  sunset,  then  he  took 
another  walk  till  eight  o'clock,  when  he  took  tea,  and  passed  the  time 
in  conversation  or  reading,  and  at  ten,  retired  to  rest.  His  social 
qualities  were  endearing  and  highly  fascinating,  especially  to  young 
people. 

As  an  orator,  he  stood  in  the  first  rank  of  parliamentary  speakers. 
On  first  rising  in  debate,  he  seemed  to  feel  the  anxiety  of  diffidence 
which  is  almost  always  the  companion  of  genius.  He  usually  began 
m  a  manner  calm  and  impressive,  but  was  soon  roused,  and  became 
energetic,  stern,  erect,  and  loud,  showing  the  power  of  a  giant.  His 
voice  was  shrill,  and  his  eyes  glistened  like  coals  of  fire.  A  steady 
flow  of  words  came  from  his  lips,  and  intense  earnestness  marked  his 
delivery.  In  listening  to  him,  every  one  felt  that  he  was  sincere,  so 
that  it  was  impossible  to  hear  him  without  being  moved.  His  mind 
was  amply  stored  with  the  fruits  of  learning,  but  still  more  with  those 
of  observation  and  reflection;  hence  originality,  depth,  and  power 
characterized  all  his  efforts. 

As  a  statesman,  in  the  most  enlarged  and  elevated  sense  of  the  term, 
he  had  no  superior.  His  course  was  independent  and  high  minded. 
Principles  were  regarded  by  him  as  practical  things  ;  he  was  firm  in 
adhering  to  them,  and  fearless  in  attacking  error.  He  was  no  mere 
theorist,  but  clearly  foresaw  results  ;  not  given  to  change,  nor  fond  of 
startling  novelties.  To  the  highest  intellectual  powers,  he  united 
those  elevated  moral  qualities  which  are  as  important  as  talent  itself 
to  complete  the  character  of  a  statesman — inflexible  integrity,  honor 
without  a  stain,  disinterestedness,  temperance  and  industry.  He  had 
a  firmness  of  purpose  which  disdained  to  calculate  the  consequences  of 
doing  his  duty.  "  I  never  know,"  he  would  say,  "  what  South  Caro 
lina  thinks  of  a  measure.  I  never  consult  her.  If  she  approves,  well 
and  good.  If  she  does  not,  or  wishes  any  one  else  to  take  my  place, 
I  am  ready  to  vacate.  We  are  even."  In  a  word,  Mr.  CALHOUN  always 
showed  prudence  and  energy  in  action,  devotion  to  his  country,  and  an 
inextinguishable  love  of  liberty  and  justice. 

A  writer  in  the  "  Gallery  of  Illustrious  Americans"  says,  "  Three 
obstacles  have  lain  between  this  great  man  and  the  presidency.  The 
first  has  been  the  earnest  and  unconquerable  independence  of  his  charac 
ter,  which  has  left  him  without  a  national  party.  The  second,  has 

i*  VoL.1.— M 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

been  the  incorruptible  integrity  of  his  heart,  which  left  him  without  in 
trigue  or  policy.  The  last,  has  been  an  obstacle  still  more  formidable 
in  this  disturbed  and  feverish  age — the  philosphical  sublimity  of  his 
genius.  He  was  not  made  to  sway  masses,  but  mind.  He  could  not 
carry  the  hearts  of  the  multitude  by  storm,  but  he  electrified  the  souls 
of  the  few."  To  this  Mr.  Jenkins  replies,  "  that  the  first  two  contri 
buted  to  this  result  is  highly  probable,  but  if  by  that  other  quality  is 
meant  an  elevation  of  his  genius  entirely  above  the  comprehension  of 
the  multitude,  it  is  unjust  to  his  character.  He  possessed  no  such 
transcendental  faculty  or  attribute.  Truth,  in  its  simplicity  and  beauty, 
as  Mr.  CALHOUN  presented  it,  goes  home  to  every  heart.  He  was 
understood  and  appreciated  by  the  masses.  He  was  popular  with  the 
people,  but  not  with  the  politicians." 

It  is  pleasant  to  add  to  this  memoir,  that  attachment  on  the  part  of 
the  constituents  of  Mr.  CALHOUN  never  lessened.  South  Carolina  wished 
not  to  change  her  senator  for  a  younger  man  ;  but  felt  that  his  matured 
experience,  his  ripened  wisdom,  and  a  soul  which  no  age  could  chill 
sustained  his  patriotism,  and  gave  weight  to  his  counsels.  May  her 

conduct  ever  be  imitated  by  our  countrymen  at  large. 

it* 


Engraved  ty  Edw"  Sc 


WILLIAM 


..-?    patriotic   citizen    h-:** 

.  two  volumes  01  "  M  • 
lion."     As  the  •  events  % 

i 

of  South  Carolina  at  the  cornnieneemrnt 

-.sures  adopted  by  her  patriotic  citizens  of  ihuae 
made  common  cause  with  the  other  colonists  in 
violated  rights. 

Settled  at  a  much  later  period  than  the  eastern  colonies,  the  g. 

:i  tad  endured,  originated  from  the  anomalous  characters 
of  the  first  settlers  ;  English  puritans  and  cavaliers,  French  huguenots, 
and  others;  -  to  constant  disputes  amongst  themselves;  and 

'•Cut  was 

Englan.i    . 
those  of  ? 

of  their  own  in 
from  that  time  until  the  n 
by  a  royal  governor,  and  their  law* 
The  proprietary  government  had  been  not  only 
it  left  the  colonists  to  contend  against  the  Indians  an 
at  their  own  expense,  which  discouraged  »:; 
ished  the  country,  by  continually  draining  it  of  its  r' 
same  time,  it  exercised  a  most  arbitrary  and  illegal  pr- 
the  laws  which  the   general   assembly  of  the 
necessary  for  its  preservation  and  deft-orf       * 
that  more  than  fifty  years  after  it/ 
population  of  South  Carol' 
of  the  country  re 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

under  the  royal  government,  the  population  rapidly  increased,  tne 
country  was  explored  and  cultivated,  and  wealth,  and  a  comparative 
degree  of  ease  and  freedom,  were  enjoyed. 

South  Carolina  did  not  then,  become  a  party  in  the  great  contest, 
so  much  from  any  local  grievance  or  special  cause  of  complaint,  as 
from  a  high,  chivalrous  impulse,  and  a  firm  conviction  of  the  correct 
ness  of  the  principle,  "  that  the  colonies  were  entitled  to  the  sole  and 
exclusive  privilege  of  giving  and  granting  their  own  money." 

The  first  advance  towards  a  continental  union  was  made  by  Mas 
sachusetts,  in  1765,  it  was  seconded,  by  South  Carolina,  and  in 
October  of  that  year,  delegates  from  nine  of  the  provinces  assembled 
in  New-York,  and  agreed  to  a  declaration  of  rights,  and  a  statement 
of  grievances. 

After  the  passage  of  the  celebrated  bill  for  shutting  up  the  port  of 
Boston,  the  inhabitants  of  that  town  appealed  to  the  "  sister  colonies.'' 
The  appeal  was  promptly  answered  by  South  Carolina,  and  delegates 
were  appointed  to  the  congress  which  assembled  in  Philadelphia  on 
the  fifth  of  September,  1774.  When  the  delegates  had  returned  to 
Charleston,  and  reported  the  serious  character  of  the  dispute  with 
Great  Britain,  the  general  committee  determined  to  call  a  provincial 
congress.  In  every  parish  and  district,  representatives  were  elected 
to  meet  in  Charleston  on  the  eleventh  of  January,  1775.  In  a  few 
days,  they  approved  the  bill  of  rights,  as  declared  by  the  continental 
2ongress, —  agreed  to  the  American  association,  and  recommended 
the  inhabitants  to  be  diligent  in  learning  the  use  of  arms.  Amongst 
many  other  decisive  and  patriotic  measures,  they  resolved  unani 
mously,  that  any  person  who  should  take,  or  act  under  any  commis 
sion  in  any  wise  derived  from  the  act  of  parliament,  changing  the 
form  of  government,  and  violating  the  charter  of  the  provinces  of 
Massachusetts  Bay,  ought  to  be  held  in  detestation  and  abhorrence 
by  all  good  men,  and  considered  as  the  wicked  tools  of  that  despotism 
which  was  preparing  to  destroy  those  rights,  which  God,  nature,  and 
compact,  had  given  to  America.  Still,  hopes  of  a  reconciliation  were 
entertained,  until  the  news  of  the  battle  of  Lexington  was  received ; 
from  that  moment  there  was  no  hesitation  as  to  the  course  to  be 
pursued.  The  provincial  congress  was  again  called  together  on  the 
first  of  June.  "  At  this  summons,"  says  General  MOULTRIE,  "  the 
people  were  greatly  alarmed,  and  their  minds  much  agitated  ,  they 
saw  that  war  was  inevitable  ;  and  that  it  was  to  be  with  that  country 
vArhich  first  planted  them  in  America,  and  raised  them  to  maturity , 
,i  country  with  which  they  were  connected  by  consanguinity,  by 


WILLIAM   MOULTRIE. 

custom,  and  by  manners ;  by  religion,  by  laws,  and  by  language  ;  a 
country  that  they  had  always  been  taught  to  respect,  and  to  considei 
as  amongst  the  first  in  the  world.  A  rich  and  powerful  nation,  with 
immense  fleets,  and  experienced  admirals,  sailing  triumphantly  ovei 
the  ocean  ;  with  large  armies  and  able  generals  in  many  parts  of  the 
globe  :  this  great  nation  we  dared  to  oppose,  without  money,  without 
arms,  without  ammunition  ;  no  generals,  no  armies,  no  admirals,  and 
no  fleets  ;  this  was  our  situation  when  the  contest  began."  On  the 
first  day  of  the  meeting  of  the  provincial  congress,  "  they  determined 
upon  a  defensive  war ;  and  the  fourth  day  it  was  resolved  to  raise 
two  regiments  of  five  hundred  men  each."  Of  the  second  of  these 
regiments,  WILLIAM  MOULTRIE  was  appointed  colonel,  on  the  17th 
of  June,  1775;  (the  same  day  on  which  was  fought  the  battle  of 
Bunker  Hill,)  and  from  that  time  he  was  constantly  engaged  in  the 
discharge  of  a  succession  of  active  and  arduous  duties.  In  Sep 
tember,  a  detachment  from  this  regiment  took  possession  of  Fort 
Johnson,  and  the  council  of  safety  ordered  him  to  have  a  flag  made, 
("  as  there  was  no  national  or  state  flag  at  that  time,")  upon  which, 
as  the  state  troops  were  clothed  in  blue,  and  wore  a  silver  crescent 
in  front  of  their  caps,  he  had  a  large  blue  flag  made,  with  a  crescent 
in  the  dexter  corner,  and  "  that  was  the  first  American  flag  displayed 
in  South  Carolina." 

There  was  at  the  time  a  sloop  of  war  laying  off  Charleston,  which 
excited  constant  vigilance  and  uneasiness,  lest  the  town  or  the  fort 
should  be  attacked.  General  MOULTRIE  in  his  memoirs,  frequently 
notices  how  highly  they  were  impressed  with  the  mighty  power  of  a 
British  man-of-war.  When,  therefore,  the  flag  was  hoisted  on  the 
fort,  it  alarmed  the  timid.  "  They  said  it  had  the  appearance  of  a 
declaration  of  war,  and  the  captain  of  the  Tamer  would  look  upon  it 
as  an  insult  and  a  flag  of  defiance  ;  but  he  knew  his  own  force  and 
kept  his  station."  The  Cherokee  sloop  of  war  soon  afterwards  joined 
the  Tamer,  and  blockaded  the  harbor  of  Charleston,  and  annoyed  the 
provincials  exceedingly  by  enticing  the  negroes  to  run  away  and 
form  a  camp  on  Sullivan's  Island.  On  the  19th  of  December,  on  a 
very  dark  and  cold  night,  Colonel  MOULTRIE,  with  a  number  of  gentle-' 
men,  and  two  hundred  s6ldiers,  embarked  from  Charleston  to  erect 
a  battery  at  HaddrelPs  Point,  so  as  to  drive  off  the  men-of-war; — 
by  daylight  they  were  well  covered,  and  in  a  few  hours  laid  theii 
platforms,  mounted  some  guns,  and  opened  their  embrasures.  The 
men-of-war  immediately  moved  further  off,  and  left  the  cove  and 
Sullivan's  Island  under  the  command  of  the  American  batteries. 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

Karly  in  March,  1776,  Colonel  MOULTRIE  was  ordered  to  take  post 
on  Sullivan's  Island,  where  a  fort  was  building  large  enough  to 
contain  one  thousand  men.  At  this  time,  certain  intelligence  had 
been  received  that  an  expedition  was  preparing  in  New-York  against 
Charleston,  and  as  Colonel  MOULTRIE  rendered  a  good  account  of  it, 
when  it  arrived  within  reach  of  his  guns,  we  shall  give  his  own  plain 
narrative  of  one  of  the  most  brilliant  actions  of  the  revolutionary 
war.  "  At  this  time  it  was  the  general  opinion,  especially  among 
the  sailors,  that  two  frigates  would  be  a  sufficient  force  to  knock 
the  town  about  our  ears,  notwithstanding  our  number  of  batteries 
with  heavy  cannon ;  but  in  a  few  weeks,  experience  taught  us  that 
frigates  could  make  no  impression  on  our  palmetto  batteries." 

"May  31,  a  large  fleet  of  British  vessels  were  seen  about  twenty 
miles  to  the  windward  of  the  bar ;  and  on  the  first  of  June,  they 
displayed  about  fifty  sail  before  the  town,  on  the  outside  of  the  bar. 
The  sight  of  these  vessels  alarmed  us  very  much ;  all  was  hurry  and 
confusion  :  the  president  with  his  council,  busy  in  sending  expresses 
to  every  part  of  the  country,  to  hasten  down  the  militia ;  men 
running  about  the  town  looking  for  horses,  carriages,  and  boats,  to 
send  their  families  into  the  country ;  and  as  they  were  going  through 
the  town  gates  into  the  country,  they  met  the  militia  from  the 
country  marching  into  town  ;  traverses  were  made  in  the  principal 
streets  ;  fleches  thrown  up  at  every  place  where  troops  could  land, 
military  works  going  on  every  where,  the  lead  taken  from  the  win 
dows  of  the  churches  and  dwelling  houses,  to  cast  into  musket  balls, 
and  every  preparation  to  receive  an  attack,  which  was  expected  in  a 
few  days.  June  4th,  General  Lee  arrived  from  the  northward,  and 
took  command  of  the  troops.  When  he  came  to  Sullivan's  Island, 
he  did  not  like  that  post  at  all ;  he  said  there  was  no  way  to  retreat, 
that  the  garrison  would  be  sacrificed ;  nay,  he  called  it  a  '  slaughter 
pen,'  and  wished  to  withdraw  the  garrison  and  give  up  the  post,  but 
President  Rutledge  insisted  that  it  should  not  be  given  up  : — for  my 
part,  I  never  was  uneasy  on  not  having  a  retreat,  because  I  never 
imagined  the  enemy  could  force  me  to  that  necessity.  Captain 
Lamperer,  a  brave  and  experienced  seaman,  who  had  been  master  of 
a  man-of-war,  visited  me  at  the  fort  after  the  British  ships  came  ovei 
the  bar ;  while  we  were  walking  on  the  platform,  looking  at  the  fleet 
he  said  to  me  :  '  Well,  colonel  ;  what  do  you  think  of  it  now  ?'  ] 
replied,  that  *  we  should  beat  them.'  '  Sir,'  said  he  ;  when  those 
ships  come  to  lay  along  side  of  your  fort,  they  will  knock  it  down  in 
half  an  hour,'  (and  that  was  the  opinion  of  all  the  sailors,)  then  I 


WILLIAM  MOULTRIE. 

said,  *  we  will  lay  behind  the  ruins,  and  prevent  their  men  from 
landing.'  Our  fort  at  this  time  was  not  nearly  finished ;  the 
mechanics  and  negro  laborers  were  taken  from  all  the  works  about 
the  town,  and  sent  down  to  the  island  to  complete  our  fort;  we 
worked  very  hard,  but  could  not  get  it  nearly  finished  before  the 
action.  On  the  morning  of  the  28th  of  June,  I  paid  a  visit  to  our 
advance-guard ;  while  1  was  there,  I  saw  a  number  of  the  enemy's 
boats  in  motion  at  the  back  of  Long  Island,  as  if  they  intended  a 
descent ;  at  the  same  time,  I  saw  the  men-of-war  loose  their  topsails. 
I  hurried  back  to  the  fort  as  fast  as  possible ;  when  I  got  there,  the 
ships  were  already  under  sail ;  I  immediately  ordered  the  long  roll 
to  beat,  and  officers  and  men  to  their  posts.  We  had  scarcely 
manned  our  guns  when  the  following  ships  of  war  came  sailing  up, 
as  if  in  confidence  of  victory ;  as  soon  as  they  came  within  reach  of 
our  guns,  we  began  to  fire;  —  they  were  soon  abreast  of  our  little 
fort,  —  let  go  their  anchors  with  springs  upon  their  cables,  and  began 
their  attack  most  furiously  about  ten  o'clock,  A.M.,  and  continued  a 
brisk  fire  till  about  eight  o'clock,  P.M. 

"  The  ships  were  the  Bristol,  of  fifty  guns,  Commodore  Sir  Peter 
Parker :  the  captain  had  his  arm  shot  off,  forty-four  men  killed,  and 
thirty  wounded.  The  Experiment,  fifty  guns  :  the  captain  lost  his 
arm,  fifty-seven  killed,  and  thirty  wounded.  The  Active,  twenty- 
eight  guns :  one  lieutenant  killed,  and  one  man  wounded.  The 
Sole-Bay,  twenty-eight  guns :  two  killed,  three  or  four  wounded. 
The  Syren,  twenty-eight  guns.  The  Acteon,  twenty-eight  guns : 
burnt ;  one  lieutenant  killed.  The  Sphinx,  twenty-eight  guns :  lost 
her  bowsprit.  The  Friendship,  twenty-six  guns :  an  armed  vessel 
taken  into  service. 

"  The  Thunder-Bomb  had  the  beds  of  her  mortar  soon  disabled ; 
she  threw  her  shells  in  a  very  good  direction  ;  most  of  them  fell 
within  the  fort ;  but  we  had  a  morass  in  the  middle,  that  swallowed 
them  up  instantly.  At  one  time,  the  commodore's  ship  swung  round 
with  her  stern  to  the  fort,  which  drew  the  fire  of  all  the  guns  that 
could  bear  upon  her.  The  words  that  passed  along  the  platform  by 
officers  and  men  were,  'mind  the  commodore  —  mind  the  two  fifty 
gun  ships ;'  most  of  our  attention  was  paid  to  the  two  fifty-gun  ships, 
especially  the  commodore,  who,  I  dare  say,  was  not  at  all  obliged  to 
us  for  our  particular  attention  to  him.  During  the  action,  thousands 
of  our  fellow-citizens  were  looking  on  with  anxious  hopes  and  fears, 
some  of  whom  had  their  fathers,  brothers,  and  husbands  in  the  battle ; 
whose  hearts  must  have  been  pierced  at  every  broadside.  After  some 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

time,  our  flag  was  shot  away ;  their  hopes  were  then  gone,  and  they 
gave  up  all  lor  lost !  supposing  that  we  had  struck  our  flag  and  given 
up  the  fort.  Sergeant  Jasper,  perceiving  that  the  flag  was  shot  away, 
and  had  fallen  without  the  fort,  jumped  from  one  of  the.  embrasures, 
and  brought  it  up  through  a  heavy  fire,  fixed  it  upon  a  spunge  staff, 
and  planted  it  upon  the  ramparts  again.  Our  flag  once  more  waving 
in  the  air,  revived  the  drooping  spirits  of  our  friends,  and  they 
continued  looking  on  till  night  had  closed  the  scene,  and  hid  us  from 
their  view.  At  length,  the  British  gave  up  the  conflict ;  the  ships 
slipped  their  cables,  and  dropped  down  with  the  tide  and  out  of  the 
reach  of  our  guns.  When  the  firing  had  ceased,  our  friends  for  a 
time  were  again  in  an  unhappy  suspense,  not  knowing  our  fate ;  till 
they  received  an  account  by  a  dispatch  boat  which  I  sent  up  to  town 
to  acquaint  them  that  the  British  ships  had  retired,  and  that  we  were 
victorious."* 

A  few  days  after  this  battle,  the  lady  of  Major  Elliott  presented  an 
elegant  pair  of  colors  to  Colonel  MOULTRIE  and  Lieutenant  Colonel 
Motte,  of  the  gallant  second  regiment.  These  colors  were  honorably 
supported  ;  they  were  planted  on  the  British  lines  at  Savannah,  where 
one  of  them  was  lost ;  the  other  was  saved  by  the  brave  Sergeant 
Jasper,  who  was  mortally  wounded  in  the  act ;  but  it  was  afterwards 
taken  at  the  fall  of  Charleston. 

"As  soon  as  the  British  had  retreated  after  the  battle  of  Sullivan's 
Island,  the  state  was  left  tranquil  and  free  from  any  apprehension  of 
another  attack."  General  MOULTRIE  was  sent  with  an  expedition  to 
Georgia ;  when  he  arrived  at  Savannah,  preparations  were  made  for 
an  attack  on  St.  Augustine,  where  his  brother  was  governor;  but 
part  of  the  troops  being  recalled,  the  project  was  abandoned.  Shortly 
after  this,  the  colonial  troops  were  put  on  the  continental  establish 
ment,  and  Colonel  MOULTRIE  came  into  the  line  of  the  army,  as  a 
brigadier  general,  his  commission  being  dated  September  16,  1776. 

When  General  Lincoln  took  command  of  the  southern  department, 
General  MOULTRIE  was  ordered  to  join  the  army  with  his  brigade  at 
Purisburgh.  In  February,  1779,  with  a  detachment  consisting  of 
only  a  few  hundred  militia,  and  nine  continental  troops,  he  defeated  a 
superior  force  of  the  enemy  near  Beaufort.  General  Lincoln  soon 
after  marched  into  Georgia,  and  left  General  MOULTRIE  with  about 
twelve  hundred  militia  and  a  few  continentals,  to  watch  the  motions 


'  The  fort  on  Sullivan's  Island  was,  by  the  legislature,  afterwards  named  Fort  MouJ'..ne. 

6 


WILLIAM  MOULTRIE. 

of  the  British,  who  were  by  this  time  collecting  a  force  for  the  pur 
pose  of  striking  at  some  important  point.  In  the  beginning  of  May 
they  advanced  towards  Charleston,  with  nearly  four  thousand  men 
under  the  command  of  General  Provost.  MOULTRIE  retired  before 
them,  destroying  the  bridges  on  the  route,  and  impeding  them  as 
opportunities  offered ;  he  at  the  same  time  kept  the  governor  in 
Charleston,  and  General  Lincoln,  informed  of  the  enemy's  advance. 
In  a  few  days  he  reached  Charleston,  but  with  only  six  hundred 
men ;  the  rest  had  deserted  by  the  way.  General  Provost  appeared 
before  the  town ;  but  a  few  cannon  shot  stopped  his  progress.  The 
governor  and  his  council  were  so  much  alarmed  at  the  prospect  of  a 
siege,  that  they  requested  a  parley.  General  Provost  offered  pro 
tection  to  such  of  the  inhabitants  as  would  accept  of  it,  and  to  receive 
the  rest  as  prisoners  of  war.  This  proposal  was  rejected,  and  a 
proposition  of  neutrality  during  the  war  was  sent.  The  military 
were  so  decidedly  opposed  to  such  a  spiritless  submission,  that  it  was 
with  difficulty  an  officer  could  be  prevailed  on  to  bear  the  message. 
When  it  was  at  last  delivered,  General  Provost  replied  that  he  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  governor,  his  business  was  with  General 
MOULTRIE.  "Upon  this,"  says  the  general,  "the  governor  and 
council  looked  very  grave  and  steadfastly  on  each  other  and  on  me. 
not  knowing  what  I  would  say.  After  a  little  pause,  I  said,  '  Gentle 
men,  you  see  how  the  matter  stands, — the  point  is  this  :  am  I  to 
deliver  you  up  prisoners  of  war,  or  not  ?'  Some  replied  '  Yes.'  I 
then  said,  '  I  am  determined  not  to  deliver  you  up  prisoners  of  war. 
We  will  fight  it  out.'  I  immediately  ordered  a  flag  to  be  waved  from 
the  gate,  which  was  the  signal  agreed  upon,  should  the  conference 
be  at  an  end."  But  all  were  disappointed  in  the  result ;  for  the  next 
morning,  at  daylight,  it  was  discovered  that  the  enemy  had  decamped. 
They  had  intercepted  a  letter  from  General  Lincoln,  who  was  in  their 
rear  with  four  thousand  men.  In  the  spring  of  1780,  General 
MOULTRIE  again  distinguished  himself  at  the  siege  of  Charleston ; 
which,  after  holding  out  upwards  of  a  month,  capitulated,  and  he 
remained  a  prisoner  of  war  until  February,  1782,  when  he  was 
exchanged  for  General  Burgoyne.  He  was  promoted  by  congress  to 
the  rank  of  major-general,  but  was  not  afterwards  engaged  in  mili 
tary  operations,  as  at  that  period  the  British  held  no  strong  post 
in  South  Carolina,  except  Charleston,  and  that  they  evacuated  in 
December  of  the  same  year. 

While  he  was  a  prisoner  on  parole,  a  proposition  was  made  to  him 
by  Lord  Charles  Montague,  under  the  guise  of  private  friendship,  to 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

leave  the  service,  accept  a  British  commission,  and  save  his  reputa 
tion  by  quitting  the  country ;  to  which  he  replied  in  a  dignified  and 
becoming  manner,  in  a  letter,  from  which,  the  following  is  extracted  : 

"  When  I  entered  into  this  contest,  I  did  it  with  the  most  mature 
deliberation,  and  with  a  determined  resolution  to  risk  my  life  and 
fortune  in  the  cause.  The  hardships  I  have  gone  through  I  look 
back  upon  with  the  greatest  pleasure  :  I  shall  continue  to  go  on  as  I 
have  begun,  that  my  example  may  encourage  the  youths  of  America 
to  stand  forth  in  defence  of  their  rights  and  liberties.  You  call  upon 
me  now,  and  tell  me  I  have  a  fair  opening  of  quitting  that  service 
with  honor  and  reputation  to  myself  by  going  to  Jamaica.  Good 
GOD  !  Is  it  possible  that  such  an  idea  could  arise  in  the  breast  of  a 
man  of  honor !  I  am  sorry  you  should  imagine  I  have  so  little 
regard  for  my  own  reputation  as  to  listen  to  such  dishonorable  pro 
posals  ;  would  you  wish  to  have  that  man  whom  you  have  honored 
with  your  friendship,  play  the  traitor  ?  Surely  not.  You  say,  by 
quitting  this  country  for  a  short  time,  I  might  avoid  disagreeable 
conversations,  and  might  return  at  my  own  leisure,  and  take  posses 
sion  of  my  estates  for  myself  and  family ;  but  you  have  forgot  to  tell 
me  how  I  am  to  get  rid  of  the  feelings  of  an  injured  honest  heart,  and 
where  to  hide  myself  from  myself; — could  I  be  guilty  of  so  much 
baseness  I  should  hate  myself  and  shun  mankind.  This  would  be  a 
fatal  exchange  from  my  present  situation,  with  an  easy  and  approved 
conscience  of  having  done  my  duty,  and  conducted  myself  as  a  man 
of  honor." 

The  only  authentic  information  we  have  been  able  to  obtain  of  the 
life  of  General  MOULTRIE  before,  or  subsequent  to  the  revolution  is, 
that  he  entered  the  field  of  Mars  as  the  captain  of  a  light  infantry 
company  in  a  provincial  regiment,  and  was  engaged  in  an  expedition 
against  the  Cherokee  Indians  in  1761.  He  was  governor  of  South 
Carolina,  in  1785-6,  and  again  in  1794-5.  He  died  September 
27th,  1805,  in  the  seventy-fifth  year  of  his  age. 


^ 


H  E  N  R  Y 


If  all  this  be  as  is  now  repre.^ 


• -»ry  country,  an  acti. 
*n  the  y  country. 

nd  priricn 

imtry,  or  in  Great  Britain,  an<: 
is  impossible  to  prevent  this   result.     Nor,   is  it  dt 

'••  be  otherwise,  saving,  the  bitterness  and  coarseness  o; 

which  political  opponents  are  too  died,  in  the 

strite  of  parties.     To  such  an  extent  does  this  prevail  in  our  Id 

of  those  who   have   ber 

rk*  ar< 

no  sor.iif.-.-  of  action,  than  their 

count  r  r;t  regard.     ! 

that  public  men  shouk 
tofaltering  patriotism,  with 

tlieir  integrity  and  their  talents  V  :-.ot  ;—•  we 

make  our  selections,  alike 
illustrious  dead. 

Among  the  names  wf;  interwv 

history  of  the  United  State:  ,    CLAY  stands  \i 

relief.    Liko  many  others  in  our  ,  he  has  been  the 

his  own  fortunes ;  having  risen  from  poverty  ami  obscur- 

•al    eminence   and   political    dignity,  by  the  enc-rgetic  and 
•ions  exercise  of  his  intellectual  powers. 

HENRY  CLAY  was  born  on  the  12th  of  April  1777,  in  Hanover 
county.  Virginia.      His  father,  who  was  a 
died  while  HENRY  was  quite  yomse  ;  ii*  ,  <***^w<x  of 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

received  no  other  education,  than  could  be  acquired  at  a  common 
school.  He  was  placed  at  an  early  age  in  the  office  of  Mr.  Tinsley, 
clerk  of  the  high  court  of  chancery,  at  Richmond, 'where  his  talents 
and  amiable  deportment  won  for  him,  the  friendship  of  some  of  the 
most  respectable  and  influential  gentlemen  in  the  state.  At  nineteen, 
he  commenced  the  study  of  the  law,  and  was  admitted  to  practice 
when  twenty  years  of  age.  He  soon  after  removed  to  Lexington, 
Kentucky,  and  continued  his  studies  there  about  a  year  longer; 
during  which  time  he  practised  public  speaking  in  a  debating 
society.  In  his  first  attempt  he  was  much  embarrassed,  and  saluted 
the  president  of  the  society  with  the  technical  phrase,  gentlemen  of 
the  jury ;  but  gaining  confidence  as  he  proceeded,  he  burst  the 
trammels  of  his  youthful  diffidence,  and  clothing  his  thoughts  in 
appropriate  language,  gave  utterance  to  an  animated  and  eloquent 
address.  He  soon  obtained  an  extensive  and  lucrative  practice ;  and 
the  reputation  which  the  superiority  of  his  genius  acquired,  was 
maintained  by  his  legal  knowledge  and  practical  accuracy. 

Mr.  CLAY'S  political  and  professional  career  began  nearly  at  the 
same  time ;  but  as  we  cannot  give  the  details  of  his  varied  and  busy 
life  within  the  limits  of  this  sketch,  we  shall  only  mark  the  most 
prominent  points,  particularly,  where  he  has  taken  a  stand  in 
support  of  his  favorite  principles  and  measures. 

In  1798,  when  the  people  of  Kentucky  were  preparing  to  frame  a 
constitution  for  the  state,  a  plan  was  proposed  for  the  gradual 
emancipation  of  slaves.  Mr.  CLAY  zealously  exerted  his  talents  in 
favor  of  it ;  he  wrote  for  the  journals,  and  declaimed  at  the  public 
meetings,  but  his  efforts  failed  of  success. 

The  next  great  question  of  a  public  character  in  which  he  took  a 
part,  found  him  arrayed  with  the  popular  party,  in  vindicating  the 
freedom  of  the  press,  and  in  opposition  to  the  sedition  law,  which 
was  viewed  by  one  political  party,  as  an  attempt  to  control  it.  His 
speeches  on  the  subject  are  said  to  have  exhibited  much  of  that 
energy  of  character  and  power  of  eloquence,  which  have  since 
distinguished  him  on  all  great  public  occasions. 

In  1803,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  legislature,  and  soon  took 
rank  among  the  ablest  men  of  the  state. 

In  1806,  General  Adair  resigned  his  seat  in  the  senate  of  the 
United  States,  and  Mr.  CLAY  was  elected  to  fill  the  vacancy  for  one 
year.  He  made  his  debut,  in  a  speech  in  favor  of  the  erection  of  a 
bridge  over  the  Potomac  at  Georgetown,  which  is  said  to  have 
decided  the  question  in  favor  of  the  measure,  and  is  the  first  of  his 


HENRY  CLAY. 

efforts  in  support  of  his  favorite  principle  of  internal  improvement. 
On  his  return  to  Kentucky,  he  was  re  elected  to  the  state  legislature, 
arid  at  the  next  session  was  chosen  speaker,  by  a  large  majority. 
He  held  that  station  for  several  years,  during  which  he  frequently 
took  a  part  in  the  debates.  He  particularly  distinguished  himself 
at  the  first  session  after  his  return  from  congress,  by  a  powerful 
speech  in  defence  of  the  common  law.  A  resolution  had  been 
introduced  to  forbid  the  reading  of  any  British  decision,  or  elemen 
tary  work  on  law,  in  the  Kentucky  courts.  The  prejudices  of  the 
people,  and  of  a  majority  of  the  assembly,  were  believed  to  be  in 
favor  of  the  motion  ;  Mr.  CLAY  moved  an  amendment,  the  effect  of 
which  was,  to  exclude  those  British  decisions  only,  which  are  of  a 
subsequent  date  to  the  declaration  of  independence.  The  prejudices 
against  which  he  contended,  were  removed  by  his  masterly  exposition 
of  the  subject.  The  common  law,  which  viewed  in  the  darkness  of 
ignorance,  appeared  mysterious  and  inexplicable ;  locked  up,  as  was 
supposed,  in  a  thousand  musty  volumes ;  was  shown  to  be  simple  and 
easy  of  comprehension,  by  the  application  of  a  few  plain  principles. 
On  this  occasion,  by  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  efforts  of  his 
genius,  and  a  brilliant  exhibition  of  his  legal  knowledge  and  orato 
rical  powers,  Mr.  CLAY  succeeded  in  carrying  his  amendment,  by 
an  almost  unanimous  vote. 

In  1809,  Mr.  CLAY  was  again  elected  to  the  United  States'  senate 
for  two  years,  in  the  place  of  Mr.  Thurston.  At  this  time,  the 
country  had  arrived  at  one  of  those  periods,  when  the  strength  of  its 
institutions  was  to  be  tried,  by  the  menaces  and  impositions  of  foreign 
powers.  The  policy  of  the  United  States  has  ever  been,  a  non 
interference  in  the  affairs  of  Europe ;  but  notwithstanding  the 
neutrality  of  the  government,  to  such  a  height  had  the  animosity  of 
the  belligerent  European  powers  arrived,  that  each  strove  to  injure 
the  other,  even  at  the  expense  of  justice,  and  by  a  violation  of  our 
neutral  rights.  Several  expedients  had  been  resorted  to,  by  which  it 
was  hoped  an  appeal  to  arms  might  be  averted,  our  commercial 
rights  respected,  and  our  national  honor  remain  untarnished ;  but 
at  the  same  time  a  just  apprehension  was  felt,  that  after  all,  our 
pacific  measures  might  prove  abortive,  and  that  it  was  necessary  to 
prepare  for  war.  To  this  end,  a  bill  was  brought  into  the  senate,  to 
appropriate  a  sum  of  money  for  the  purchase  of  cordage,  sail  cloth, 
and  other  articles  ;  to  which  an  amendment  was  offered  giving  the 
preference  to  American  productions  and  manufactures.  It  was  on 
this  occasion  Mr.  CLAY  first  publicly  appeared  as  the  advocate  of 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

domestic  manufactures,  and  of  the  protective  policy  which  has  since 
been  called  " the  American  system"  Mr.  CLAY  also  participated  in 
other  important  questions  before  the  senate,  and  amongst  them,  that 
respecting  the  title  of  the  United  States  to  Florida,  which  he  sustained 
with  his  usual  ability. 

His  term  of  service  in  the  senate  having  expired,  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  house  of  representatives,  and  in  the  winter  of  1811 
took  his  seat  in  that  body,  of  which  he  was  chosen  speaker,  by  a  vote 
that  left  no  doubt  of  the  extent  of  his  influence,  or  of  the  degree  of 
respect  entertained  for  his  abilities.  This  station  he  continued  to 
hold  until  -1814.  Previous  to  the  time  when  the  preparations  for 
war,  before  alluded  to,  became  a  subject  of  interest,  Mr.  CLAY  had 
been  rather  a  participator  in  the  discussion  of  affairs,  than  a  leader, 
or  originator  of  any  great  measures,  such  as  have  since  characterized 
the  national  policy ;  but  from  that  period,  he  is  to  be  held  responsible 
as  a  principal,  for  the  impulse  which  he  has  given  to  such  of  them,  as 
will  probably  be  left  to  the  calm  judgment  of  posterity.  As  early  as 
1811,  we  find  him  in  his  place  advocating  the  raising  of  a  respectable 
military  force.  War  he  conceived  inevitable, — that  in  fact,  England 
had  begun  it  already ;  and  the  only  question  was.  he  said,  whether  it 
was  to  be  "  a  war  of  vigor,  or  a  war  of  languor  and  imbecility." 
"  He  was  in  favor  of  the  display  of  an  energy  correspondent  to  the 
feelings  and  spirit  of  the  country."  Shortly  afterward,  with  equal 
fervor,  he  recommended  the  gradual  increase  of  the  navy ;  a  course 
of  national  policy,  which  has  fortunately  retained  its  popularity,  and 
still  remains  unchanged. 

In  1814,  Mr.  CLAY  was  appointed  one  of  the  commissioners,  who 
negotiated  the  treaty  of  Ghent.  When  he  resigned  the  speaker's 
chair  on  the  eve  of  his  departure  to  Europe,  he  addressed  the  house 
in  a  speech,  "  which  touched  every  heart  in  the  assembly,  and  unsealed 
many  a  fountain  of  tears"  ;  to  which  the  house  responded  by  passing 
a  resolution,  almost  unanimously,  thanking  him  for  the  impartiality, 
with  which  he  had  administered  the  arduous  duties  of  his  office.  In 
the  spring,  after  the  termination  of  the  negotiations  at  Ghent,  he 
went  to  London  with  two  of  his  former  colleagues,  Messrs.  Adams 
and  Gallatin  ;  and  there  entered  upon  a  highly  important  negotiation, 
which  resulted  in  the  commercial  convention,  which  has  been  made  the 
basis  of  most  of  our  subsequent  commercial  arrangements  with  foreign 
powers.  On  his  return  to  his  own  country,  he  was  every  where 
greeted  with  applause,  and  was  again  elected  to  the  house  of  repre 
sentatives  in  congress,  of  which  he  continued  to  be  a  member  until 


HENRY   CLAY. 

1825,  when  he  accepted  the  appointment  of  secretary  of  state  under 
President  Adams. 

One  of  the  great  results  of  our  foreign  policy,  after  the  war,  was  the 
recognition  of  the  independence  of  the  Spanish  colonies.  On  this 
subject,  Mr.  CLAY  entered  with  all  his  heart  and  soul,  and  mind  and 
strength, — he  saw  "the  glorious  spectacle  of  eighteen  millions  of 
people  struggling  to  burst  their  chains  and  to  be  free" ;  and  he  called 
to  mind  the  language  of  the  venerated  father  of  his  country:  "Born 
in  a  land  of  liberty,  my  anxious  recollections,  my  sympathetic  feelings, 
and  my  best  wishes,  are  irresistibly  excited,  whensoever,  in  my 
country,  I  see  an  oppressed  nation  unfurl  the  banners  of  freedom." 
We  regret  that  we  cannot  enter  into  the  details  of  his  eiforts  in  that 
cause ;  it  must  suffice  to  notice,  that  at  first  they  were  not  successful, 
yet  he  was  not  discouraged,  but  renewed  them  the  following  year, 
when  he  carried  the  measure  through  the  house  of  representatives. 
The  president  immediately  thereafter,  appointed  five  ministers  pleni 
potentiary  to  the  principal  Spanish  American  states.  While  on  this 
subject,  we  must  not  permit  the  occasion  to  pass  without  remarking ; 
that  much  as  we  admire  those  British  statesmen,  who  are  bending  the 
powers  of  their  noble  minds  and  splendid  talents,  to  the  great  cause  of 
human  liberty  and  human  happiness,  we  cannot  allow  them,  nor  one 
of  them,  to  appropriate  to  himself  the  honor  of  having  "  called  a  new- 
world  into  existence."  That  honor  belongs  not  to  George  Canning, 
as  a  reference  to  dates  will  show.  If  there  be  glory  due  to  any  one 
mortal  man  more  than  to  others,  for  rousing  the  sympathies  of  free 
men  for  a  people  struggling  to  be  free,  that  glory  is  due  to  HENRY 
CLAY  ;  although  he  has  never  had  the  vanity  to  say  so  himself.  His 
exertions  won  the  consent  of  the  American  people,  to  sustain  the 
president  in  the  decisive  stand  which  HE  took,  when  the  great 
European  powers  contemplated  an  intervention  on  behalf  of  Spain ; 
and  it  was  THAT  which  decided  Great  Britain,  in  the  course  which 
she  pursued.  The  Spanish  American  states  have  acknowledged 
their  gratitude  to  Mr.  CLAY  by  public  acts ;  his  speeches  have  been 
read  at  the  head  of  their  armies ;  and  his  name  will  find  as  durable 
a  place  in  the  history  of  the  South  American  republics,  as  in  tho 
records  of  his  native  land. 

In  the  domestic  policy  of  the  government,  there  have  been  two 
points,  to  which  Mr.  CLAY'S  attention  has  been  particularly  directed, 
since  the  late  war ;  both  of  them,  in  some  degree,  resting  their  claims 
on  the  country,  from  circumstances  developed  by  that  war.  We  are 
not  about  to  discuss  them,  but  merely  to  indicate  them  as  his  favorite 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

principles,  to  support  which  his  splendid  talents  have  been  directed. 
These  are  internal  improvements,  and  the  protection  of  domestic 
manufactures  by  means  of  an  adequate  tariff.  With  regard  to  these 
measures,  the  statesmen,  and  the  people  of  the  country,  have  been 
much  divided, — sometimes,  the^e  has  been  a  difference  of  opinion  as 
to  the  expediency  of  them,  and  sometimes,  constitutional  objections 
have  been  advanced.  He  has  been,  however,  their  steadfast  cham 
pion,  and  has  been  supposed  to  have  connected  them,  with  the  settled 
policy  of  the  country.  How  far  this  may  prove  true,  time  only  can 
decide. 

The  right,  claimed  by  South  Carolina,  to  nullify  an  act  of  Congress, 
the  warlike  preparations  made  by  that  state  to  resist  compulsion,  and 
the  excitement  throughout  the  country,  occasioned  by  the  conflict  of 
interests  and  opinions,  and  the  hopes  and  fears  of  the  community, 
will  never  be  forgotten  by  the  present  generation.  A  civil  war  and 
the  dissolution  of  the  union,  or  the  destruction  of  the  manufacturing 
interests,  which  had  grown  up  to  an  immense  value  under  the  pro 
tective  system ;  for  a  time  seemed  the  only  alternatives.  During  the 
short  session  of  congress  in  1832-3,  various  propositions  were  made 
to  remove  the  threatened  evils,  by  a  readjustment  of  the  tariff;  but  the 
time  passed  on  in  high  debate,  and  the  country  looked  on  in  anxious 
hope,  that  some  measure  would  be  devised,  by  which  harmony  and 
security  might  be  restored.  Two  weeks  only  remained  to  the  end 
of  the  session,  and  nothing  had  been  effected ;  when  Mr.  CLAY,  "  the 
father  of  the  American  system,"  himself  brought  in  the  olive  branch. 
On  the  12th  of  February,  he  arose  in  his  place  in  the  senate,  and 
asked  leave  to  introduce  a  bill,  to  modify  the  various  acts,  imposing 
duties  on  imports  ;  he  at  the  same  time  addressed  the  senate  in  expla 
nation  of  his  course,  and  of  the  bill  proposed.  "  The  basis,"  Mr.  CLAY 
said,  "  on  which  I  wish  to  found  this  modification,  is  one  of  time ; 
and  the  several  parts  of  the  bill  to  which  I  am  about  to  call  the 
attention  of  the  senate,  are  founded  on  this  basis.  I  propose  to  give 
protection  to  our  manufactured  articles,  adequate  protection,  for  a 
length  of  time,  which,  compared  with  the  length  of  human  life,  is 
very  long,  but  which  is  short,  in  proportion  to  the  legitimate  discre 
tion  of  every  wise  and  parental  system  of  government — securing  the 
stability  of  legislation,  and  allowing  time  for  a  gradual  reduction,  on 
one  side ;  and  on  the  other,  proposing  to  reduce  the  rate  of  duties  to 
that  revenue  standard  for  which  the  opponents  of  the  system  have  so 
long  contended." 

The  bill  was  read,  referred   to   a  committee,   reported  on,  and 


HENRY  CLAY. 

brought  to  its  final  passage  in  the  senate  within  a  few  days.  In  the 
mean  time,  it  had  been  made  the  substitute  for  a  bill  under  discussion, 
in  the  house  of  representatives,  and  was  adopted  in  that  body  by  a 
large  majority  and  sent  to  the  senate,  where  it  had  its  final  reading 
on  the  26th,  and  when  approved  by  the  president  became  a  law. 

We  should  not,  in  this  place,  have  alluded  to  the  course  pursued 
by  one  of  the  states,  to  effect  a  modification  of  the  tariff,  had  it  not 
been  so  inseparably  Connected  with,  what  we  doubt  not,  will  be 
hereafter  considered  one  of  the  most  important  acts  of  Mr.  CLAY'S 
public  life.  "He  expressly  declared  that  he  thought  the  protective 
system  in  extreme  danger ;  and  that  it  would  be  far  better  for  the 
manufacturers,  for  whose  interests  he  felt  the  greatest  solicitude,  to 
secure  themselves  by  the  bill,  than  take  the  chances  of  the  next 
session  of  congress,  when,  from  the  constitution  of  both  houses,  it 
was  probable  a  worse  one  would  be  passed."  On  the  other  hand,  he 
urged  the  proposition  "as  a  measure  of  mutual  concession, — of 
peace,  of  harmony.  He  wanted  to  see  no  civil  war ;  no  sacked 
cities  ;  no  embattled  armies ;  no  streams  of  American  blood  shed  by 
American  arms."  We  trust,  that  the  crisis  is  passed,  and  that  we 
shall  continue  for  ever  a  united,  prosperous,  and  happy  people. 

The  tariff  has  had  its  effect  so  far,  that  a  new  era  has  commenced, 
and  it  is  very  probable,  that  the  revenue  of  the  country  will  finally 
be  settled  down  to  a  standard,  only  sufficient,  to  meet  the  expenses 
of  the  government.  In  connection  with  this  subject,  we  wish  to 
preserve  the  following  extract  from  the  speech  of  Mr.  Verplanck, 
in  January,  1833,  in  support  of  a  bill  to  reduce  the  tariff,  reported 
by  him  to  congress  : 

"  The  last  war  left  the  nation  laboring  under  a  weight  of  public 
debt.  The  payment  of  that  war  debt  was  one  of  the  great  objects  of 
the  arrangement  of  our  revenue  system  at  the  peace,  and  it  was  never 
lost  sight  of  in  any  subsequent  arrangement  of  our  tariff  system. 
Since  1815,  we  have  annually  derived  a  revenue  from  several  sources, 
but  by  far  the  largest  part  from  duties  on  imports,  of  sometimes 
twenty,  sometimes  twenty-five,  and  recently  thirty-two  and  thirty 
three  millions  of  dollars  a  year. 

"  Of  this  sum,  ten  millions  always,  but  of  late  a  much  larger  pro 
portion,  has  been  devoted  to  the  payment  of  the  interest  and  principal 
of  the  public  debt.  At  last  that  debt  has  been  extinguished.  The 
manner  in  which  those  burthens  were  distributed  under  former  laws, 
has  been,  heretofore,  a  subject  of  complaint  and  remonstrance.  I 
do  not  propose  to  inquire  into  the  wisdom  or  justice  of  those 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

laws.  The  debt  has  been  extinguished  by  them — let  us  be  grateful 
for  the  past." 

Many  other  interesting  incidents  are  presented  in  the  public  life  of 
Mr.  CLAY,  to  which  we  shall  only  advert ;  such,  as  the  part  he  took 
in  the  Missouri  question  ;  in  the  election  of  Mr.  Adams  ;  on  the  subject 
of  sending  a  commissioner  to  Greece ;  on  the  colonization  of  the 
negroes ;  and  more  recently,  his  labors  in  favor  of  rechartering  the 
United  States  Bank,  and  for  the  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  the 
public  lands  for  the  purposes  of  internal  improvement,  education,  &c. 

Mr.  CLAY  received  from  Mr.  Madison  the  successive  offers  of  a 
mission  to  Russia,  and  a  place  in  the  cabinet ;  and  from  Mr.  Monroe 
a  situation  in  his  cabinet,  and  the  mission  to  England ;  all  of  which 
he  declined. 

On  the  great  Cumberland  road,  there  has  been  erected  a  large  and 
beautiful  monument,  surmounted  by  a  figure  of  Liberty,  and  inscribed 
"  HENRY  CLAY."  These  are  evidences  of  the  estimation  in  which 
Mr.  CLAY  has  been  held  by  his  contemporaries ;  others  might  be 
adduced,  but  they  would  be  superfluous. 

Twice  he  has  been  nominated  for  the  presidency,  but  without 
success.  We  trust  that  he  is  too  firm  in  his  republican  principles  to 
murmur,  and  that  his  friends  will  in  some  measure  be  consoled,  by 
reflections  similar  to  that,  which  we  have  adopted  as  a  motto  to  this 
article. 


Drawn  from  life  ,and  .Engraved  iv-  James  S>.  Long; 

•  -    ::EH 


DAN 


WKR<?TK«  ,n,    AT 

•ok  river,  in 
i?"8:2.     •  .  ;.|wi«'-s  a  Cii mor 

-   years    i 

eouj 

full  of  decision,  integrity,  firmness  <*>.     He  diwi  in  180ft. 

having  lived,  to  see  the  spot  where  he  had,  with  great  difficulty, 
established  himself,  changed  from  being  the  frontier  of  civilization, 
co  be  the  centre  of  a  happy  population,  abounding  in  prosperity  and 

The  early  youth  of  Mr.  WEBSTER  was  passed  in  th*  midst  of  the 

forest,  M'hrrt"  *'u  +  ?  TMW  WMHCSS 

in  him.  ,sjjc 

i  ^.^.T-f?--^-  'is'-i  i •  *.¥  scif**>^  even  jtit(j  tlie 

jwtttw  iii^l'«fu.:ii^M  Jrfe,  which 

first 


prepared  for  .• 
ted,  in  1801,  at  Ibrtin 
s,  which,  so  far  as  his 
ip  far  behind  him. 
professio  s  in 

Mr.  Ti  ^oon 

^ed  in  Hr*^:-:-:  >,*r*d*x  M 
-,  and  one  or'  -v»  ••••-.t:- 
,  political,  a»td  )• 


uaa  me  surring  01  an  ambition,  wnose  direction  was  yet  to 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

De  determined.  It  was  in  Boston,  that  Mr.  WEBSTER  was  admitted 
to  the  bar,  in  1805 ;  and  it  is  a  fact  worth  remembering,  that,  when 
Mr.  Gore  presented  him  to  the  court,  he  ventured  to  make  a  prediction 
respecting  his  pupil's  future  eminence,  which  all  his  present  fame 
has  not  more  than  fulfilled. 

Mr.  WEBSTER  began  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Boscawen,  a 
small  village  near  the  place  of  his  nativity;  but,  in  1807?  removed 
to  Portsmouth,  the  commercial  capital  of  New  Hampshire  There 
he  at  once  rose  to  the  rank  of  the  most  prominent  in  his  profession ; 
and  under  the  influence  of  such  intercourse  as  that  with  Mr.  Smith, 
then  chief  justice  of  New  Hampshire,  and  Mr.  Mason,  the  leading 
counsel  in  the  state,  and  of  the  first  order  of  minds  any  where,  he 
went  through  a  stern  intellectual  training,  and  acquired  that  un 
sparing  logic,  which  rendered  him  in  his  turn  so  formidable  an 
adversary. 

His  first  entrance  on  public  life,  was  in  1812,  soon  after  the  decla 
ration  of  war,  when,  at  the  early  age  of  thirty,  he  was  chosen  one 
of  the  representatives  of  his  native  state  to  the  thirteenth  congress. 
His  position  there  was  a  difficult  one,  and  he  felt  it  to  be  so.  He 
was  opposed  to  the  policy  of  the  war ;  the  state  he  represented  was 
earnestly  opposed  to  it ;  and  he  had  always,  especially  in  the  eloquent 
and  powerful  memorial  from  the  great  popular  meeting  in  Rocking- 
ham,  expressed  himself  frankly  on  the  whole  subject.  But  he  was 
now  called  into  the  councils  of  the  government,  which  was  carrying 
on  the  war  itself.  He  felt  it  to  be  his  duty,  therefore,  to  make  no 
opposition  for  opposition's  sake ;  though,  at  tl  e  same  time,  he  felt  it 
to  be  no  less  his  duty,  to  take  heed  that,  neither  the  constitution,  nor 
the  interests  of  the  nation,  were  endangered  or  sacrificed.  When, 
therefore,  Mr.  Monroe's  bill,  for  a  sort  of  conscription,  was  introduced, 
he  joined  with  Mr.  Eppes,  and  other  friends  of  the  administration, 
and  defeated  a  project,  which,  except  in  a  moment  of  great  anxiety 
and  excitement,  would  probably  never  have  been  proposed.  But 
when,  on  the  other  hand,  the  bill,  "for  encouraging  enlistments," 
was  before  the  house,  he  made  a  speech,  in  January,  1814,  in  favor 
of  adequate  naval  defence,  and  a  perfect  military  protection  of  the 
northern  frontier,  which,  now  the  passions  of  that  stormy  period  are 
hushed,  will  find  an  echo  in  the  heart  of  every  lover  of  his  country. 

On  the  subject  of  a  national  bank,  he  took  the  same  independent 
and  patriotic  ground,  and  maintained  it  with  equal  vigor  and  firmness. 
The  administration,  having  found  a  bank  indispensable,  applied  to 
congress  for  one,  with  fifty  rn.llions  of  capital,  five  only  of  which 


DANIEL  WEBSTER. 

were  to  be  in  specie,  and  the  rest  in  the  depreciated  government 
securities  of  the  period,  with  an  obligation  to  lend  the  treasury  thirty 
millions;  but  relieved  from  the  necessity  of  paying  its  own  notes  in 
gold  and  silver.  The  project  of  such  a  bank,  having  passed  the 
senate,  came  to  the  house,  and  was  there  discussed,  December,  1814, 
and  January,  1815.  Mr.  WEBSTER  opposed  it,  on  the  ground,  that 
it  would  only  increase  the  embarrassments  in  the  fiscal  operations 
of  the  nation,  and  the  pecuniary  transactions  of  individuals,  which 
were  already  in  confusion,  by  the  refusal  of  all  the  state  banks  south 
of  New  England,  to  pay  in  specie.  He  was,  no  doubt,  right ;  and. 
probably,  nobody  now,  on  reviewing  the  discussion  of  the  whole 
subject,  would  doubt  it.  But  he  carried  his  point,  and  defeated  the 
bill,  only  by  the  casting  vote  of  the  speaker,  Mr.  Cheves. 

Mr.  WEBSTER'S  opposition  to  the  bank,  however,  had  not  been 
factious;  and,  therefore,  the  very  next  day,  he  took  the  initiative 
steps  for  bringing  the  whole  subject  immediately  before  the  house 
again  ;  and  a  sound,  specie-paying  bank,  was  almost  as  immediately 
agreed  to ;  Mr.  WEBSTER,  and  most  of  his  friends,  voting  for  it. 
The  bill,  however,  to  establish  it,  was  rejected  by  the  president,  on 
the  ground,  that  it  was  not  sufficient  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  the 
case ;  which,  indeed,  we  now  know  no  bank  would  have  been  able 
to  meet ;  and  thus  the  question  was  again  brought  into  a  severe  and 
protracted  discussion,  which  was  ended  only  by  the  unexpected  news 
of  the  peace,  January  17,  1815. 

But  the  peace  brought  with  it  other  conflicts  of  a  similar  nature. 
When  the  bill  to  establish  the  late  bank  of  the  United  States  was 
introduced,  Mr  WEBSTER  opposed  it,  on  the  ground,  that  the  capital 
proposed  was  too  large,  and  that  it  contained  a  provision  to  authorize 
a  suspension  of  specie  payments.  On  both  points,  his  opposition,  with 
that  of  his  friends,  was  successful ;  but  still,  he  was  not  satisfied  with 
the  bill ;  and  the  suggestions  he  made,  predicting  enormous  subscrip 
tions  to  the  stock  for  purposes  of  speculation  merely,  and  out  of  all 
proportion  to  the  real  ability  of  the  subscribers,  showed  the  statesman 
like  forecast,  which  marked  his  whole  political  course  and  were 
sadly  justified  by  the  difficulties  that  occurred  in  the  history  of  the 
bank  itself. 

Still  less,  however,  was  he  satisfied  with  the  condition  of  the 
circulating  medium  of  the  country,  which  was  then  fit  neither  for  the 
safe  management  of  the  concerns  of  the  government,  nor  for  the 
security  of  private  property.  A  large  part  of  it  consisted  in  the 

depreciated  notes  of  the  state  banks,  south  of  New  England,  in  which 

3  KI 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

even  the  revenue  of  the  government  was  receivable,  at  the  different 
custom  houses ;  so  that  there  was  a  difference,  he  declared,  of  at 
least  twenty-five  per  cent,  in  the  rates  of  duties  collected  in  different 
parts  of  the  country,  according  to  the  value  of  the  paper  medium  in 
which  they  were  paid.  The  vast  mischief  which  would  follow  this 
state  of  things  was  at  once  foreseen  by  Mr.  WEBSTER  ;  and  he 
introduced  a  resolution,  requiring  the  revenue  of  the  United  States 
to  be  collected  only  in  the  legal  currency  of  the  United  States,  or  in 
bills  equal  to  that  currency  in  value.  The  passage  of  this  resolution, 
the  defeat  of  the  paper-currency  bank  proposed  in  1814,  and  the 
establishment  of  the  present  specie-paying  bank,  have  saved  us  from 
confusion  and  disasters,  which  Mr.  WEBSTER  so  clearly  foresaw, 
and  on  which,  now  we  understand  more  of  their  nature  and  extent, 
it  is  hardly  possible  to  look  back  with  composure. 

The  same  principles  and  doctrines  were  again  maintained  by  him, 
with  equal  steadiness,  when  the  question  of  re-chartering  the  bank 
came  up,  in  1832.  The  objection  of  too  large  a  capital  was  then 
removed,  as  he  conceived,  by  the  increased  population,  wealth,  and 
wants  of  the  country ;  and  the  objection  to  indiscriminate  subscription 
could  not  recur,  if  the  charter  were  renewed.  Mr.  WEBSTER. 
therefore,  sustained  it ;  and  when  the  president  had  placed  Ins  veto 
upon  it,  rejoined,  not  on  the  ground  sometimes  taken,  that  the 
president  had  exceeded  his  authority ;  but,  on  the  ground  that  he 
had  exercised  it  to  the  injury  of  the  country,  and  that  the  reasons  he 
had  given  for  it  were  untenable. 

In  1816,  Mr.  WEBSTER  determined  to  retire,  at  least  for  a  time, 
from  public  life,  and  to  change  his  residence.  He  had  then  lived  in 
Portsmouth  nine  years,  and  they  had  been  to  him  years  of  great 
happiness  in  his  private  relations,  and,  in  his  relations  to  the  country, 
years  of  remarkable  advancement  and  honor.  But,  in  the  disastrous 
fire,  which,  in  1813,  destroyed  a  large  part  of  that  devoted  town,  he 
had  sustained  a  heavy  pecuniary  loss,  which  the  opportunities  offered 
by  his  profession  in  New  Hampshire  were  not  likely  to  repair.  He 
determined,  therefore,  to  establish  himself  in  a  larger  capital  ;  and, 
in  the  summer  of  1816,  removed  to  Boston,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
which  he  resided  till  his  death. 

His  object  was  now  professional  occupation ;  and  he  devoted  him 
self  to  it,  for  six  or  eight  years,  with  unremitting  assiduity;  refusing 
to  accept  office,  or  to  mingle  in  political  discussion.  His  success  was 
correspondent  to  his  exertions.  He  was  already  known  as  a  distin 
guished  lawyer  in  his  native  state,  and  beginning  to  be  known  as 


DANIEL  WEBSTER. 

such  in  Massachusetts.  The  Dartmouth  college  cause  which  he 
argued,  in  March,  1818,  in  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States, 
placed  him  in  the  first  rank  of  American  jurists,  at  the  early  age  of 
thirty-six  ;  and  from  that  time  his  attendance  on  this  great  tribunal 
was  constantly  secured  by  retainers  in  the  most  important  causes  ; 
and  the  circle  of  his  professional  business,  which  continued  regu 
larly  to  enlarge,  has  not  been  exceeded,  if  it  has  been  equalled,  by 
that  of  any  other  lawyer,  who  has  ever  appeared  in  the  national 
forum.  Few  of  his  arguments,  however,  are  reported,  and  even 
those  few  are  exhibited  only  in  a  dry  and  technical  outline.  Among 
them,  the  most  remarkable  are,  the  case  of  Gibbons  vs.  Ogden,  in 
1824,  involving  the  question  of  the  steam-boat  monopoly ;  and  the 
case  of  Ogden  vs.  Saunders,  1827,  involving  the  question  of  state 
insolvent  laws,  when  they  purport  to  absolve  the  party  from  the 
obligation  of  the  contract.  In  these,  and  in  all  his  other  forensic 
efforts,  we  see  what  was  most  characteristic  of  Mr.  WEBSTER'S  mind 
as  a  lawyer :  his  clearness  and  downright  simplicity  in  stating  facts  ; 
his  acute  analysis  of  difficulties ;  his  earnest  pursuit  of  truth  for 
truth's  sake,  and  of  the  principles  of  law  for  the  sake  of  right  and 
justice  ;  and  his  desire  to  attain  them  all  by  the  most  direct  and 
simple  means.  It  was  this  plainness,  this  simplicity,  in  fact,  that  made 
him  so  prevalent  with  the  jury  ;  and  not  only  with  the  jury  in  court, 
but  with  the  great  jury  of  the  whole  people. 

But,  during  the  years  just  passed  over,  Mr.  WEBSTER'S  success 
was  not  confined  to  the  bar.  In  the  year  1820-21,  he  was  a  member 
of  a  convention  of  delegates,  assembled  in  Boston,  to  revise  the  con 
stitution  of  Massachusetts,  and  exercised  a  preponderating  influence 
in  an  assembly  of  greater  dignity  and  talent  than  was  ever  before 
collected  in  that  ancient  commonwealth.  On  the  22d  of  December, 
1820,  the  day  when  the  two  hundredth  year  from  the  first  landing 
of  the  forefathers,  at  Plymouth,  was  completed,  Mr.  WEBSTER,  by 
the  sure  indication  of  the  public  will,  was  summoned  to  that  conse 
crated  spot,  and,  in  an  address,  which  is  the  gravest  of  his  published 
works,  so  spoke  of  the  centuries  past,  that  the  centuries  yet  to  come 
shall  receive  and  remember  his  words.  Again,  in  1825,  fifty  years 
from  the  day  when  the  solemn  drama  of  the  American  revolution 
was  opened,  on  Bunker's  hill,  Mr.  WEBSTER  stood  there,  and  inter 
preted  to  assembled  thousands  the  feelings  with  which  that  great 
event  will  forever  be  regarded.  Again,  too,  in  the  summer  of  1826, 
he  was  called  upon  to  commemorate  the  services  which  Adams  and, 
Jefferson  had  rendered,  when  they  carried  through  the  declaration. 


VOL.  I.— 15 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

of  independence ;  and  which  they  so  mysteriously  sealed,  by  their 
common  death,  exactly  half  a  century  afterwards.  And  finally,  on 
the  22d  of  February,  1832,  at  the  completion  of  a  century  from  the 
birth  of  Washington,  and  in  the  city  which  bears  his  name,  Mr. 
WEBSTER  exhibited  him  to  the  country  as  standing  at  the  head  alike 
of  a  new  world,  and  of  a  new  era,  in  the  history  of  man.  These 
four  occasions  were  all  memorable ;  as  memorable,  perhaps,  as  any 
that  have  occurred  to  Americans  in  our  time ;  and  the  genius  of  Mr. 
WEBSTER  has  sent  them  down,  marked  with  its  impress,  to  posterity. 

But,  during  a  part  of  the  period  over  which  we  have  slightly 
passed,  he  was  again  in  public  life.  From  1823  to  1827,  he  was  a 
member  of  the  house  of  representatives,  from  the  city  of  Boston,  in 
the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  congresses.  His  first  distinguished 
effort,  on  this  second  appearance  in  the  national  councils,  was  his 
"Greek  speech,"  in  which,  with  the  forecast  of  a  statesman,  he 
showed,  as  plainly  as  events  have  since  proved  it,  that  the  principles 
laid  down  by  the  great  powers  in  Europe  from  the  congress  of  Paris, 
in  1814,  to  that  of  Laybach,  in  1821,  as  the  basis  on  which  to  main 
tain  the  peace  of  the  world,  mistook  the  spirit  of  the  age,  and  would 
speedily  be  overturned  by  the  irresistible  power  of  popular  opinion. 
In  1824,  he  entered  fully  into  the  great  discussions  about  the  tariff; 
and  examined  the  doctrines  of  exchange,  and  the  balance  of  trade, 
with  an  ability  which  has  prevented  them  from  being  since,  what 
they  had  so  often  been  before,  subjects  of  crude  and  unsatisfactory 
controversy  in  both  houses  of  congress.  In  1 825,  he  prepared  and 
carried  through  the  crimes  act,  which,  as  a  just  tribute  to  his  address 
and  exertions,  his  great  wisdom  and  patient  labor,  already  bears  his 
name ;  and,  in  the  same  session  of  congress,  he  defended,  as  he  had 
defended  them  in  1816,  the  principles  involved  in  the  exercise  of  the 
power  of  internal  improvements  by  the  general  government.  These, 
with  the  discussions  respecting  the  bill  for  enlarging  the  number  of 
judges  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States,  and  respecting  the 
Panama  mission,  were  the  more  prominent  subjects  on  which  Mr. 
WEBSTER  exhibited  his  remarkable  powers  during  the  four  sessions 
in  which  he  represented  the  city  of  Boston  in  the  house  of 
representatives. 

In  1826,  he  was  reflected,  almost  unanimously,  to  represent  the 
same  district  yet  a  third  time ;  but,  before  he  had  taken  his  seat,  a 
vacancy  having  occurred  in  the  senate,  he  was  chosen,  without  any 
regular  opposition,  to  fill  it ;  an  honor,  which  was  again  conferred 
upon  him  in  1833,  by  a  sort  of  general  consent  and  acclamation. 


DANIEL  WEBSTER. 

How  he  sustained  himself  as  a  senator,  is  known  to  the  whole 
country.  No  man  was  ever  found  able  to  intercept  from  him  the 
constant  regard  of  the  nation;  so  that,  whatever  he  said,  was  watched 
and  understood  throughout  the  borders  of  the  land,  almost  as  familiarly 
and  thoroughly  as  it  always  was  at  Washington.  The  speeches  he 
delivered  on  the  great  questions  of  the  tariff,  and  of  internal  improve 
ments  ;  his  admirable  defence  of  the  bill  for  the  relief  of  the  surviving 
officers  of  the  revolution ;  his  report  on  the  apportionment  of  repre 
sentatives;  and  his  statesman-like  discussions  respecting  a  national 
bank ;  are  known  to  all  who  know  anything  about  the  affairs  of  the 
country.  But,  though  the  eyes  of  all  were  always  thus  fastened 
on  him,  in  such  a  way,  that  nothing  relating  to  him,  can  have  escaped 
their  notice,  there  were  two  occasions,  when  he  attracted  a  kind  and 
degree  of  attention,  which,  as  it  is  rarely  given  to  any  man  in  any 
country,  is  so  much  the  more  honorable  whenever  it  is  obtained.  We 
refer  now,  of  course,  to  the  two  great  debates  of  1830  and  1833,  when 
he  overthrew  the  doctrine  of  nullification. 

An  attempt  to  put  a  construction  upon  the  constitution,  which  has 
resulted  in  these  doctrines,  can  be  traced  back  as  far  as  to  May,  1828, 
when  two  or  more  meetings,  of  the  South  Carolina  delegates,  were 
held  at  General  Hayne's  lodgings,  in  Washington;  and  to  the 
assembling  of  the  legislature  of  South  Carolina,  in  the  autumn  of  the 
same  year,  when,  on  the  19th  of  December,  a  document,  called  "  An 
Exposition  and  Protest,"  prepared,  as  is  understood,  by  Mr.  Calhoun, 
then  vice-president  of  the  United  States,  was  produced,  in  order  to 
exhibit  and  enforce  those  doctrines,  on  which  that  state  relied  for  suc 
cess  in  the  contest  into  which  she  was  then  entering.  In  January, 
1830,  in  the  confident  hope  of  obtaining  further  sanction  to  them,  they 
were  brought  forward  in  the  senate  of  the  United  States,  by  General 
Hayne;  though  the  resolution,  under  color  of  which  they  were  thus 
produced,  had  nothing  to  do  with  them.  Mr.  WEBSTER  was,  there 
fore,  in  a  measure,  taken  by  surprise ;  but  his  whole  life  had  been  a 
preparation  for  an  encounter  with  any  man,  who  should  assail  the  great 
principles  of  the  federal  constitution ;  and  his  speeches,  on  this  occasion, 
in  reply  to  General  Hayne,  though  called  from  him  almost  without 
premeditation,  are  the  result  of  principles  which  had  almost  grown  up 
with  him  from  his  youth,  and  were  now  developed  with  all  the  matured 
power  of  his  mind  and  strength. 

The  same  consequences,  or  consequences  even  more  honorable 
to  Mr.  WEBSTER,  followed  the  attempt  made  in  the  winter  of  1833, 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

to  enforce  in  the  senate  the  same  unsound  doctrines ;  and  the  tumul 
tuous  and  unparliamentary  shout  of  applause  that  followed  his  great 
speech,  in  reply  to  Mr.  Calhoun,  which  burst  involuntarily  from  the 
hearts  of  the  multitude,  that  listened  to  him,  was  afterwards  echoed 
from  all  the  borders  of  the  land. 

The  remaining  part  of  Mr.  WEBSTER'S  history  is  little  more  than 
that  of  successive  triumphs  in  the  senate  and  at  the  bar,  by  the  power  of 
his  arguments  and  the  force  of  his  eloquence,  and  of  his  constant  en 
lightenment  of  the  public  mind,  leading  many  thousands  to  conclusions 
which  but  for  him  they  would  never  have  reached.  Fully  to  detail 
these  triumphs  would  fill  volumes,  instead  of  the  very  few  pages  to 
which  our  biographies  must  be  confined. 

In  the  recess  of  congress,  in  the  year  1833,  Mr.  WEBSTER  made  a 
short  journey  to  the  Middle  States  and  the  West.  He  was  everywhere 
the  object  of  the  most  distinguished  and  respectful  attentions.  Public 
receptions  took  place  at  Buffalo  and  Pittsburg,  where,  under  the 
auspices  of  committees  of  the  highest  respectability,  he  addressed  im 
mense  assemblages  convened  without  distinction  of  party.  Invitations 
to  similar  meetings  reached  him  from  many  quarters,  which  he  was 
obliged  by  want  of  leisure  to  decline. 

The  period  from  the  elevation  of  General  Jackson  to  the  time  of 
General  Harrison,  was  filled  with  incidents  of  great  importance  in 
various  departments  of  the  government ;  often  of  a  startling  character 
at  the  time,  and  not  less  frequently  exerting  a  permanent  influence  on 
the  condition  of  the  country.  It  may  be  stated  as  the  general  charac 
teristic  of  the  political  tendencies  of  this  period  that  there  was  a  de 
cided  weakening  of  respect  for  constitutional  restraint.  Vague  ideas  of 
executive  discretion  prevailed  on  the  one  hand  in  the  interpretation  of 
the  constitution,  and  of  popular  sovereignty  on  the  other,  as  represented 
by  a  president  elevated  to  office  by  overwhelming  majorities  of  the 
people.  In  the  midst  of  all,  Mr.  WEBSTER  remained  calm,  firm  and 
powerful ;  and  contributed  perhaps  more  than  any  other  man,  to  con 
duct  the  vessel  of  the  state  into  a  peaceful  haven. 

In  the  spring  of  1839,  Mr.  WEBSTER,  for  the  first  time  in  his  life, 
crossed  the  Atlantic,  making  a  hasty  tour  through  England,  Scotland 
and  France.  His  attention  was  particularly  drawn  to  the  agriculture 
of  England  and  Scotland ;  to  the  great  subjects  of  currency  and  ex 
change  ;  and  to  the  practical  effects  on  the  politics  of  Europe  of  the 
system  of  the  continental  alliance.  No  traveler  from  this  country  has 
ever  been  received  with  equal  attention  by  private  circles,  or  in  the 
very  highest  classes  of  English  society.  Courtesies  usually  paid  only 


DANIEL  WEBSTER. 

to  ambassadors  and  foreign  ministers  were  extended  to  him.  His  table 
was  covered  with  invitations  to  the  seats  of  the  nobility  and  gentry ; 
and  his  company  was  eagerly  sought  at  the  public  entertainments 
which  took  place  while  he  was  in  the  country.  Among  the  distinguished 
persons  with  whom  he  contracted  intimate  friendship,  the  late  Lord 
Ashburton  may  be  particularly  mentioned.  A  mutual  regard  of  more 
than  usual  warmth  arose  between  them.  This  circumstance  was  well 
understood  in  the  higher  circles  of  English  society,  and  when,  two 
years  later,  a  change  of  administration  in  both  countries  brought  the 
parties  to  which  they  were  respectively  attached  into  power,  the 
friendly  relations  well  known  to  exist  between  them,  were,  no  doubt, 
among  the  motives  which  led  to  the  appointment  of  Lord  Ashburton 
as  special  minister  to  the  United  States  to  settle  a  long  existing  and 
very  difficult  question. 

Mr.  WEBSTER  remained  in  the  department  of  state  but  little  more 
than  two  years.  His  last  act  was  the  preparation  of  the  instructions 
of  Mr.  Gushing  who  had  been  appointed  commissioner  to  China.  Some 
of  the  members  of  the  cabinet  had  resigned  some  months  preceding, 
but  in  the  judgment  of  the  secretary  of  state,  the  public  welfare  claimed 
his  services  till  the  period  when  he  resigned  his  office  into  the  hands 
of  President  Tyler,  and  retired  to  private  life.  In  1845  he  was  elected 
to  resume  his  seat  in  the  senate,  where  he  remained  till  called  by 
President  Fillmore  again  to  occupy  the  department  of  state. 

In  the  spring  of  1850,  the  decease  of  Mr.  Calhoun  took  place  at 
Washington,  and  Mr.  WEBSTER,  when  speaking  in  the  senate  on  the 
mournful  event,  bore  testimony,  in  cordial  and  affecting  terms,  to  the 
uninterrupted  friendly  relations  in  which  they  had  always  stood.  He 
regarded  Mr.  Calhoun  as  decidedly  the  ablest  of  the  public  men  to 
whom  he  had  been  opposed  in  the  course  of  his  political  life.  These 
kindly  feelings  were  known  to  be  fully  reciprocated  by  Mr.  Calhoun. 
He  declared  on  his  death-bed,  that  of  all  the  public  men  of  the  day, 
there  was  no  one  whose  political  course  had  been  more  strongly 
marked  by  a  strict  regard  to  truth  and  honor  than  Mr.  WEBSTER'S. 
Indeed  of  all  the  highly  eminent  public  men  of  the  day,  these  gentle 
men  made  the  least  use  of  the  favorite  weapon  of  ordinary  politicians, — 
personality  towards  opponents. 

If  it  were  allowable  to  specify  one  speech  rather  than  another  which 
has  shown  the  high  powers  of  mind,  and  the  clear  views  of  Mr.  WEB 
STER  on  moral  questions,  we  would  refer  to  his  mighty  effort  in  the 
supreme  court  at  Washington,  in  1844,  on  the  Girard  bequest.  This 
gentleman  bequeathed  the  greater  part  of  his  estate  to  the  city  of 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

Philadelphia  for  the  foundation  of  a  college  for  orphans,  and  the  case 
was  argued  by  Mr.  WEBSTER  for  the  heirs  at  law.  One  of  the  grounds 
on  which  the  bequest  was  impeached  by  them  was  the  exclusion  by 
the  will  of  all  ecclesiastics,  missionaries,  or  ministers,  of  whatever  sect, 
from  all  offices  in  the  college,  and  even  from  admission  within  the 
premises  as  visitors.  So  impressive  was  Mr.  WEBSTER'S  argument 
upon  the  importance  of  making  provision  for  religious  instruction  in  all 
institutions  for  education,  that  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Washington 
belonging  to  different  religious  denominations  was  held,  at  which  a 
resolution  was  passed,  expressing  the  opinion  entertained  by  the  meet 
ing  of  the  great  value  of  Mr.  WEBSTER'S  argument,  "  in  demonstrating 
the  vital  importance  of  Christianity  to  the  success  of  our  free  institu 
tions,  and  that  the  general  diffusion  of  that  argument  among  the 
people  of  the  United  States  is  a  matter  of  deep  public  interest."  Many 
thousand  copies  of  this  masterly  argument  have  since  been  circulated. 

It  has  been  well  remarked  by  a  recent  biographer  of  Mr.  WEBSTER, 
that  "the  key  to  his  whole  political  course  is  the  belief  that  when  the 
Union  is  dissolved,  the  internal  peace,  the  vigorous  growth,  and  the 
prosperity  of  the  states,  and  the  welfare  of  their  inhabitants,  are 
blighted  forever ;  and  that,  while  the  Union  endures,  all  else  of  trial 
and  calamity  which  can  befal  a  nation  may  be  remedied  or  borne.  So 
believing,  he  has  pursued  a  course  which  has  earned  for  him  an  honored 
name  among  those  who  have  discharged  the  duty  of  good  citizens  with 
the  most  distinguished  ability,  zeal  and  benefit  to  the  country.  In  the 
relations  of  civilized  life,  there  is  no  higher  service  which  man  can 
render  to  man,  than  thus  to  preserve  a  wise  constitution  of  government 
in  healthful  action." 

No  man  can  fairly  review  the  history  of  DANIEL  WEBSTER  without 
admiring  the  character  of  our  free  institutions,  and  exulting  in  their 
tendency.  In  other  lands,  and  under  any  other  government,  his 
extraordinary  powers  could  not  have  been  so  fully  developed.  We 
are  aware  that  this  might  be  said  in  connection  with  the  majority  of 
our  eminent  men ;  but  no  man  illustrates  the  fact  more  clearly  than 
Mr.  WEBSTER.  From  the  days  when,  amidst  the  fastnesses  of  nature, 
his  young  feet  trod  with  difficulty  the  path  to  the  common  school 
house,  where  his  earliest  aspirations  were  nurtured,  and  he  was  first 
blest  with  a  glimpse  of  the  wisdom  by  which  his  course  should  be 
directed,  to  the  moment  when  he  came  forth  from  the  senate  chamber, 
conscious  that  he  had  overthrown  the  doctrine  of  nullification,  and 
contended  successfully  for  the  union  of  the  states  ;  or  rather  to  a  still 
later  period  when  the  danger  of  the  dissolution  of  the  Union  was  even 


DANIEL  WEBSTER. 

greater,  and  when  for  its  preservation  he  risked  the  esteem  of  many  of 
his  friends,  it  is  clear  that  he  rested  on  his  own  distinct  views  of  right 
for  success.  And  it  is  equally  clear,  that  in  all  he  ever  did,  he  acted  on 
his  full  conviction  of  the  wisdom  of  our  constitution,  and  has  shown 
the  highest  development  and  proudest  exercise  of  his  mighty  talents  to 
maintain  our  Union  unbroken  and  cordial. 

In  the  midst  of  his  usefulness,  and  at  the  period  when  the  continuance 
of  his  services  to  the  country  seemed  most  desirable,  Mr.  WEBSTER 
was  overtaken  with  his  last  sickness.  During  the  autumns  of  many 
years  he  had  suffered  from  chronic  disease,  and  being  in  his  seventy- 
first  year,  apprehensions  might  well  have  been  entertained  of  the 
result,  when  in  September  of  1852,  his  appearance  indicated  languor 
and  suffering.  As  long  as  he  could,  he  remained  in  his  office  at 
Washington,  and  then  retired  to  Marshfield,  fully  expecting  that  a 
few  weeks'  rest  would  enable  him  to  return  with  renewed  energy  to 
labor ;  indeed  not  a  few  of  his  friends  were  disposed  to  nominate  him 
for  the  next  presidency ;  but  all  hopes  were  soon  disappointed,  and  it 
was  announced  to  an  anxious  nation  that  they  must  prepare  to  lose  an 
illustrious  favorite. 

On  the  evening  of  Saturday,  October  23,  his  physicians  deemed  it 
their  duty  to  inform  him  that  his  last  hour  was  fast  approaching;  he 
received  the  intelligence  with  composure,  and  then  requested  that  the 
female  members  of  his  family  should  be  called  into  his  room ;  and  calling 
each  by  name,  he  gave  them  characteristic  words  of  counsel  and  con 
solation,  and  took  a  solemn  and  affectionate  farewell.  He  then 
requested  the  presence  of  the  male  members  of  his  family,  and  of  his 
personal  friends  who  were  in  his  house,  and  addressing  each  of  them 
also  by  name,  he  referred  to  his  past  relations  with  them  respectively, 
and  one  by  one  bade  them  an  affectionate  adieu.  After  they  left  the 
room,  he  expressed  a  desire  that  they  should  all  remain  near  his 
chamber,  and  recalling  Mr.  Peter  Harvey,  he  addressed  him  as  he 
approached  the  bedside — "Harvey,  I  am  not  so  sick  but  that  I  know 
you ;  I  am  well  enough  to  love  you,  and  well  enough  to  call  down  the 
richest  of  Heaven's  blessings  upon  you  and  yours.  Harvey,  don't 
leave  me  till  I  am  dead — don't  leave  Marshfield  till  I  am  a  dead  man." 
Then,  as  if  speaking  to  himself,  he  said, — "  On  the  twenty-fourth  of 
October,  all  that  is  mortal  of  DANIEL  WEBSTER  will  be  no  more." 

Very  shortly  after  this  he  engaged  in  fervent  prayer,  in  a  voice  per 
fectly  natural,  and  scarcely  less  strong  and  full  than  when  in  health, 
concluding  by  a  solemn  utterance  of  the  words, — "Heavenly  Father, 
forgive  my  sins,  and  receive  me  to  thyself,  through  Christ  Jesus."  He 


11 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

then  turned  to  his  medical  attendants,  and  inquired  at  what  hour  or 
moment  he  might  expect  his  dissolution.  He  was  informed  that  nothing 
more  could  be  done  for  him  than  occasionally  administering  to  him 
sedatives,  and  that  death  might  ensue  in  two  or  three  hours,  but  that 
the  time  could  not  be  definitely  calculated.  "Then,"  he  replied,  "I 
suppose  I  must  lie  here  quietly  until  it  comes.  May  it  come  soon." 

During  the  evening  Dr.  Jeffries  offered  him  something,  expressing 
the  hope  that  it  might  give  him  ease.  "Something  more,  doctor," 
said  he,  "more,  I  want  restoration."  At  ten  o'clock  he  was  sensibly 
weaker,  but  perfectly  conscious.  Soon  after,  he  repeated  somewhat 
indistinctly  the  words,  "  Poet,  poetry, — Gray,  Gray."  Mr.  Fletcher 
Webster,  his  only  surviving  son,  repeated  the  first  line  of  the  eligy, 
"  The  curfew  tolls  the  knell  of  parting  day."  "  That's  it,  that's  it," 
said  Mr.  WEBSTER,  and  the  book  was  found  and  some  stanzas  read 
which  seemed  to  give  him  much  pleasure. 

From  twelve  o'clock  till  two,  there  was  much  restlessness,  but  his 
physicians  were  confident  that  there  was  no  actual  pain.  A  faintness 
occurred,  which  led  him  to  think  that  death  was  upon  him,  and  he 
expressed  the  hope  that  his  mind  would  remain  unclouded  to  the  last. 
He  spoke  of  the  difficulty  of  the  process  of  dying,  when  Dr.  Jeffries 
repeated  the  verse,  "  Though  I  walk  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow 
of  death,  I  will  fear  no  evil ;  for  thou  art  with  me ;  thy  rod  and  thy 
staff,  they  comfort  me."  "  Yes,"  said  he,  quickly,  "  the  fact,  the  fact. 
That  is  what  I  want— thy  rod,  thy  rod— thy  staff,  thy  staff."  At 
twenty-two  minutes  before  three  o'clock,  on  the  morning  of  Sunday, 
October  24,  1852,  DANIEL  WEBSTER  expired.  To  the  last  moment 
his  intellect  was  vigorous,  his  mind  clear,  and  his  will  strong.  The 
inward  man  triumphed  to  the  last  over  the  outward. 

It  will  be  long  before  we  shall  look  upon  his  equal.  Warriors  have 
led  armies  to  victory ;  but  Mr.  WEBSTER  led  this  Union  into  an  equality 
of  moral  power  and  influence  with  the  proudest  nations  of  the  earth. 
He  has  shown  us  that  perseverance  in  the  maintenance  of  all  that  is 
peculiar  to  us  as  a  nation  can  alone  give  us  a  continually  rising  rank 
among  the  governments  of  the  world.  His  career  was  one  of  constant 
patriotism,  and  his  country,  in  life  and  death,  showed  him  every 
possible  mark  of  respect.  His  memory  shall  always  be  precious,  for  he 

merited  all  the  honors  he  received. 

12 


LLI 


abilities 


his  fortuiK 

impulse  to  all  her  sons,  and  rece. 

talents. and  services.     There   are   many,  u 
overcome  much   greater  embarrassments   than   the 
memoir:  n 


ar  he  \r«- 

.ind  thence  to  ait 
Maryland;  but  the  c! 
school  of  the  Reverend  Jar 
he  was  placed  in  his  eleventh  ytw: 
rJuder  the  instruction  of  this  g*« 
ourse  of  the  grammar  schools  o! 
J^atin  and  Greek  classics,  and  in  some  of  1 
natics,   to   \vhich   his   teftthvr   ad<k'd    soi 
philosophy.     Here,  too,  be  had  'He  ad-^a^i 
brary,  cultivated  his  taste  iV/rjyvife'  Irt^i- 
ident  and  author  when  aboui  ttfartm*  _} 

t-house  was  at  no  great  fii.*,*:. 
occasionally  on  court  days,  *^riM 


NATIOJSAL  PORTRAITS. 

heard  there,  they  formed  a  court  of  their  own.  WIRT  draughted  the 
constitution  and  laws,  which  he  reported  with  an  apologetic  letter 
prefixed.  On  the  school  being  broken  up,  in  1787,  Mr.  Benjamin 
Edwards,  the  father  of  one  of  his  schoolfellows,  (Ninian  Edwards, 
afterwards  governor  of  Illinois,)  having  seen  the  juvenile  essay  and 
letter  alluded  to,  was  induced  to  invite  their  author  under  his  roof, 
where  he  accordingly  remained  in  the  capacity  of  teacher  about  a  year 
and  a  half.  This  was  a  fortunate  event  to  a  young  man  whose  patri 
mony  was  inadequate  to  support  him  at  college,  or  in  the  acquirement 
of  a  profession ;  and  Mr.  WIRT  was  frequently  heard  to  express  his  con 
viction,  that  to  Mr.  Edwards'  peculiar  and  happy  cast  of  character,  he 
owed  most  of  what  might  be  praiseworthy  in  his  own. 

From  this  residence,  and  these  occupations,  he  was  forced  by  some 
symptoms  of  bad  health,  and  went,  for  the  benefit  of  the  climate,  to 
Augusta,  in  Georgia.  On  his  return  in  the  succeeding  spring,  he 
began  the  study  of  law  at  Montgomery  Court-house,  with  Mr.  William 
P.  Hunt,  the  son  of  his  former  precepter.  He  was  afterwards  a  student 
at  Leesburg,  Virginia,  under  Thomas  Swann ;  was  licensed  for  practice 
in  the  autumn  of  1792,  and  removed  to  Culpepper  Court-house,  in 
Virginia,  wrhere  he  the  same  year  began  the  professional  career,  in 
which  he  attained  such  eminent  renown. 

He  at  this  time  possessed  a  vigorous  constitution,  with  a  prepossess 
ing  mien  and  manners ;  these,  combined  with  great  felicity  of  conversa 
tion,  and  a  lively,  fertile  wit,  are  described  by  one  who  knew  him  a 
short  time  after  this  date,  to  have  been  attractive  in  a  very  uncommon 
degree,  and  to  have  made  his  society  eagerly  sought,  especially  by 
the  gay  and  young.  His  first  essay  at  the  bar  was  fortunate,  and 
gained  him  friends,  as  well  as  subsequent  success.  He  married,  in 
1795,  Mildred,  the  eldest  daughter  of  Doctor  George  Gilmer,  of  Pen 
Park,  near  Charlottesville.  Residing,  after  his  marriage,  in  the 
family  of  his  father-in-law,  who  was  an  accomplished  scholar  and  wit, 
as  well  as  an  eminent  physician,  and  the  intimate  associate  of  Mr. 
Jefferson,  Mr.  Madison,  and  Mr.  Monroe,  he  found  in  these  celebrated 
men,  and  in  others,  who  were  attracted  by  the  benevolent  character 
and  hospitality  of  Doctor  Gilmer,  very  cordial  as  well  as  desirable 
friends  ;  while  in  the  elegant  library  of  the  latter,  he  cultivated  his 
mind  by  the  study  of  the  elder  philosophical  writers,  or  employed 
himself  assiduously  in  composition. 

The  death  of  his  wife,  an  accomplished  and  amiable  woman,  in 
1799,  interrupted  this  happy  and  profitable  course  of  life,  and  sus 
pended,  for  a  while,  his  professional  pursuits.  For  change  of  scene, 


WILLIAM  WIRT. 

he  was  persuaded  to  go  to  Richmond,  his  friends  procuring  his  election 
to  the  clerkship  of  the  house  of  delegates,  which  post  he  held  during 
three  sessions  of  the  assembly.  Not  having  entirely  relinquished  the 
practice  of  law,  he  volunteered,  in  1800,  in  the  well-known  trial  of 
Callender;  and  in  the  same  year  he  was  selected  to  pronounce  the 
anniversary  oration  on  the  fourth  of  July. 

The  charm  of  his  conversation  and  manners,  which  had  won  him 
distinguished  esteem  in  the  elevated  and  intellectual  circle  of  Pen  Park 
and  Monticello,  followed  him  into  the  associations,  which,  as  clerk  of 
the  house  of  delegates,  he  was  thrown  into,  with  the  members  of  the 
legislature.  That  body  gave  him  a  signal  mark  of  its  consideration, 
by  appointing  him,  in  1802,  the  chancellor  of  the  eastern  chancery 
district  of  Virginia. 

In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year  he  married  the  daughter  of  the  late 
Colonel  Gamble,  of  Richmond,  and  finding  the  salary  of  the  chancellor 
ship  unequal  to  the  support  of  a  family,  he  resigned  it,  and  resumed 
the  practice  of  law.  It  was  just  before  he  removed  to  Norfolk,  in  the 
winter  of  1803-4,  that  he  wrote  the  essays  under  the  name  of  "The 
British  Spy."  They  were  published  originally  in  the  Richmond 
Argus,  and  were  hastily  composed,  under  some  uneasiness,  which  he 
hoped  to  divert,  arising  from  the  ill-health  of  his  wife.  Some  of  the 
sketches  in  these  essays  had  a  wide  popularity,  and  that  of  the  "Blind 
Preacher"  penetrated,  we  believe,  into  every  hamlet  of  the  country, 
and  was  well  known  in  Europe. 

At  Norfolk  he  practised  with  increasing  success  till  1806,  when,  at 
the  solicitation  of  his  friends,  he  removed  to  Richmond,  as  a  wider 
professional  theatre,  then  adorned  by  men  of  the  first  legal  talents  and 
learning.  In  this  city,  and  often,  likewise,  in  distant  parts  of  the 
state,  he  pursued  his  profession  for  eleven  years,  with  still  extending 
reputation,  which  enlarged  into  celebrity  by  the  trial  of  Aaron  Burr, 
against  whom,  under  the  direction  of  President  Jefferson,  he  was 
employed  as  prosecuting  counsel. 

This  trial  took  place  in  1807,  soon  after  Mr.  WIRT'S  removal  to 
Richmond,  and  created,  it  is  well  known,  an  earnest  interest  in  all 
classes  of  people.  Great  learning  and  abilities  were  exhibited  at  once 
in  the  prosecution  and  defence ;  public  passion  augmented  the  intrinsic 
importance  of  the  affair ;  and  the  whole  theatre  was  well  adapted,  to 
call  out  the  talents  of  the  actors  on  either  side.  The  report  of  the 
trial  has  made  his  speeches  familiar  to  lawyers ;  and  some  passages  of 
them  are  still  more  so,  as  popular  specimens  of  eloquence, 

In  the  following  winter  he  sat  for  the  only  time  in  a  legislative 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

body,  being  elected  without  canvass,  a  delegate  to  the  assembly  from 
Richmond.  As  a  member  of  a  committee,  he  brought  in  a  report  and 
resolutions,  respecting  the  aggressions  of  France  and  Great  Britain  on 
our  commerce,  and  in  support  of  the  consequent  measures  of  Mr. 
Jefferson's  administration.  He  wrote  in  the  same  year,  some  essays 
in  the  Richmond  Enquirer,  signed  "  One  of  the  People,"  addressed  to 
the  members  of  congress,  who  had  united  in  a  protest  against  the 
nomination  of  Mr.  Madison  for  president,  and  exhibiting  the  character 
and  services  of  that  illustrious  citizen.  He  published,  about  the  same 
time,  an  address  to  the  people  of  Virginia,  in  recommendation  of 
domestic  manufactures,  and  some  essays  signed  the  "Sentinel,"  in 
vestigating  and  approving  some  financial  and  other  views  of  Mr. 
Jefferson. 

The  appointment  of  Mr.  WIRT  by  Mr.  Monroe,  to  the  attorney- 
generalship  of  the  United  States,  (which  had  been  preceded  by  his 
receiving  from  Mr.  Madison  the  post  of  United  States'  attorney  for 
the  district  of  Virginia,)  caused  him  to  remove  to  Washington  in  the 
winter  of  1817-18,  and  brought  him  into  the  arena  of  the  supreme 
court ;  than  which,  no  forensic  theatre,  perhaps,  ever  presented  more 
accomplished  and  powerful  antagonists.  Mr  WIRT'S  practice  soon 
became  extensive,  and  his  celebrity  kept  pace  with  it,  as  an  eloquent 
advocate  and  learned  jurist.  The  attorney-generalship  he  held  through 
three  presidential  terms,  longer  by  many  years  than  any  of  his  prede 
cessors  ;  and  his  labors  in  this  arduous  post,  seem  to  have  surpassed 
theirs  in  the  same  proportion,  being  the  first  of  those  officers  that  sat 
in  the  cabinet,  and  the  only  one  that  left  any  official  opinions  or  prece 
dents,  to  guide  his  successors.  He  resigned  his  place  at  the  end  of 
Mr.  Adams'  administration,  and  removed  to  Baltimore,  where  he 
resided  till  near  his  death. 

Before  he  left  Washington,  he  had  pronounced,  at  the  request  of 
the  citizens  of  that  place,  an  eulogy  on  the  two  patriots,  who  by  so 
singular  a  coincidence,  ended  their  lives  on  the  same  anniversary  of  the 
national  independence.  This  composition  contains  some  passages  of 
finished  oratory,  and  has  more  especially  infused  into  it  the  classic 
tincture  of  his  reading.  In  1830,  he  made  at  Rutgers  college,  a  dis 
course  of  a  more  didactic  nature,  in  which  we  discern  that  love  of  virtue 
and  decorum,  which  breathes  in  all  his  writings.  He  was  selected  the 
same  year  to  deliver  the  address  at  the  celebration  of  the  French 
revolution  of  July,  by  the  citizens  of  Baltimore ;  which  he  accomplished 
to  the  full  satisfaction  of  all  who  heard  him,  who  presented  him  their 
cordial  thanks. 

4 


WILLIAM  WIRT. 

In  September,  1831,  the  first  National  Convention  of  the  Anti- 
Masonic  party  assembled  in  Baltimore  to  nominate  candidates  for  the 
presidency  and  vice-presidency  of  the  United  States.  This  party  arose 
from  the  abduction  and  supposed  murder  of  William  Morgan,  a  resident 
of  the  western  part  of  New  York,  where  he  had  published  a  book 
professing  to  reveal  the  secrets  of  Freemasonry.  The  excitement 
spread  from  that  state  into  others,  and  the  party  to  which  it  gave 
birth  was  swelled  in  some  of  the  states,  particularly  in  Pennsylvania, 
by  persons  who  were  dissatisfied  with  the  administration  of  President 
Jackson,  and  yet  were  unwilling  to  join  the  party,  professedly  opposed 
to  him, — the  National  Republicans  whose  candidate  it  was  generally 
expected,  would  be  Henry  Clay.  In  some  of  the  states  the  new  party 
held  the  balance  of  power  and  in  all  the  northern  parts  of  the  Union  it 
was  rapidly  growing,  and  led  by  active  and  energetic  men. 

Mr.  WIRT  had  been  selected  to  represent  Baltimore  in  the  National 
Convention  of  the  National  Republican  party ;  he  was  ardently  devoted 
to  Mr.  Clay  and  prepared  to  support  him  for  the  presidency.  It  was, 
therefore,  to  his  great  surprise,  that  he  received  a  notification  from  the 
Anti-Masonic  Convention  that  he  had  been  selected  as  their  candidate 
for  the  presidency,  accompanied  by  the  request  of  an  immediate 
answer. 

Mr.  WIRT  accepted  the  nomination  in  a  letter  in  which  he  informed 
the  convention  that  he  had  in  early  life  joined  the  Freemasons,  but  had 
not  been  in  a  lodge  for  many  years  ;  but  that  he  could  not  believe  that 
the  proceedings  against  Morgan  had  met  with  the  sanction  of  the  order. 
He  thought  some  of  the  oaths  exacted  of  members  were  improper,  and 
came  in  conflict  with  their  duties  as  citizens,  and  taking  into  considera 
tion  that  the  maintenance  of  "  the  supremacy  of  the  laws"  was  the 
basis  upon  which  the  new  party  proposed  to  act,  he  concluded  by 
consenting  to  be  their  candidate. 

At  the  election  in  the  Autumn  of  1832,  the  state  of  Vermont  was 
the  only  one  in  which  the  Anti-Masons  gave  the  largest  vote  and  Mr. 
WIRT  received  the  seven  electoral  votes  of  that  state  for  the  presi 
dency. 

In  the  two  succeeding  years,  1833  and  1834,  Mr  WIRT  was  con 
cerned  in  founding  a  colony  of  Germans  in  Florida,  which  was  placed 
under  the  control  of  one  of  his  sons-in-law,  Mr.  Goldsborough,  of  the 
navy.  He  seemed  to  have  looked  forward  to  joining  his  two  daughters 
who  were  settled  in  that  territory  and  spending  the  remainder  of  his 
life  with  them.  The  colony  proved  a  failure ;  some  of  the  settlers 
violated  their  engagements  and  ran  away,  and  experience  seems  to 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

have  been  all  that  the  proprietors  derived  from  it.  Writing  of  the 
failure  of  the  colony  to  a  friend,  Mr.  WIRT  very  pleasantly  says,  "  As 
to  the  Germans  I  am  now  prepared  to  write  a  treatise  De  moribus 
Ger  manor  um . " 

In  January,  1834,  Mr.  WIRT  attended  the  sitting  of  the  supreme 
court  of  the  United  States  at  Washington.  His  health  was  feeble  and 
he  had  just  received  the  afflicting  news  of  the  death  of  his  eldest 
daughter,  Mrs.  Randall,  in  Florida.  In  February,  whilst  he  was  in 
some  degree  recovering  from  this  afflicting  blow,  he  took  cold  on 
returning  from  the  capitol,  whither  he  had  been  to  attend  divine  ser 
vice.  He  was  not  considered  seriously  ill  until  Thursday,  when  he  became 
much  worse,  and  on  Tuesday,  February  18th  he  expired.  As  might 
have  been  expected,  the  highest  encomiums  were  pronounced  on  him 
by  members  of  the  bar,  who  at  once  assembled  to  do  him  honor ;  and 
both  houses  of  congress  adjourned  to  enable  their  members  to  attend 
his  funeral ;  a  mark  of  respect  never  before  shown  to  any  who  were 
not  members  of  one  or  the  other  house.  In  the  procession  were  seen 
the  president  of  the  United  States,  the  vice-president,  the  heads  of 
departments,  the  diplomatic  corps,  the  bench  and  bar  of  the  supreme 
court,  the  members  of  the  two  houses  of  congress,  officers  of  the  army 
and  navy,  and  a  large  concourse  of  private  citizens. 

Mr.  Wirt  was  not  more  eminent  as  a  jurist  and  public  man  than  he 
was  affectionate  and  devoted  as  a  friend  and  relative,  and  delightful 
as  a  companion.  His  life  had  been  more  varied  than  that  of  most 
professional  men  and  his  conversation  abounded  with  anecdote.  His 
wit  was  playful  and  gentle,  and  he  was  disposed  to  look  at  men  and 
things  upon  the  bright  side.  A  strong  religious  feeling  was  conspicu 
ous  in  his  character ;  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life  he  united  himself  as 
a  communicant  with  the  Presbyterian  Church,  to  which  denomination 
his  parents  had  belonged. 

As  life  advanced,  his  excellent  biographer,  the  Hon.  J.  P.  Kennedy, 
informs  us,  his  convictions  of  the  truth  and  value  of  the  Christian 
revelation,  and  of  the  duties  it  imposed  upon  him,  became  more  earnest 
and  profound.  He  devoted  a  portion  of  his  time,  every  day,  to  the 
reading  of  the  scriptures ;  engaged  in  a  comprehensive  study  of 
theology  ;  cultivated  habits  of  prayer  and  meditation,  which  he  pro 
moted  and  encouraged  throughout  his  family  ;  and  frequently  employed 
his  leisure  in  the  composition  of  religious  essays  and  records  of  private 
devotion.  He  took  great  interest  in  the  promotion  of  moral  and 
religious  institutions,  in  the  missionary  labors  of  the  churches,  in  the 
extension  of  Sunday  schools,  in  the  success  of  bible  societies, — and 


WILLIAM  WIRT. 

was,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  the  president  of  the  State  Bible  Society 
of  Maryland.  He  was  a  most  effective  friend  of  the  cause  of  temper 
ance,  and  often  sought  opportunity  to  testify  to  the  great  importance 
which  he  attached  to  the  labors  of  the  societies  connected  with  it.  "I 
have  been  for  more  than  forty  years," — he  remarks  in  a  letter  which 
has  been  frequently  published, — "  a  close  observer  of  life  and  manners 
in  various  parts  of  the  United  States,  and  I  know  not  the  evil  that 
will  bear  a  moment's  comparison  with  intemperance."  In  short,  the 
latter  years,  especially,  of  Mr.  WIRT'S  life  furnish  us  the  spectacle  of  a 
highly  gifted,  thoughtful,  and  accomplished  mind  stimulated  by  a  sin 
cere  and  fervent  piety,  and  employed  in  the  promotion  of  every  good 
work  suggested  by  enlightened  benevolence  or  Christian  duty.  His 
theological  studies  were  systematically  pursued  through  many  years, 
in  whatever  leisure  his  profession  allowed  him.  His  favorite  authors 
were  Hooker,  Baxter,  Watts,  Faber,  Flavel,  Robert  Hall,  Doddridge, 
and  Jay  ;  Massillon  and  Bourdaloue  were  frequently  in  his  hands.  Of 
Baxter,  he  says,  in  a  letter  to  his  daughter — "  I  took  up  '  The  Saint's 
Rest'  lately,  and  found  it  like  an  old  sandal-wood  box,  as  fresh  and 
fragrant  as  if  it  had  been  just  made,  although  it  has  been  exhaling  its 
odor  for  a  hundred  and  eighty  years." 

As  a  writer,  Mr.  WIRT  was  chiefly  known  by  productions  which 
were  the  work,  or  rather  the  amusement  of  the  limited  leisure  which  he 
could  snatch  from  other  labors.  "  The  Spy"  and  "  The  Old  Bachelor," 
of  the  last  of  which  he  wrote  the  greater  part,  were  essays,  composed 
under  the  double  haste  of  daily  business  and  the  promptings  of  the 
occasion.  Under  such  circumstances  we  may  wonder  that  a  lawyer, 
devoted  to  his  profession,  who  at  no  time  languished  in  want  of  prac 
tice,  and  who  when  the  last  of  them  had  appeared,  had  reached  high 
emolument  and  honor,  should  have  had  the  time,  the  taste,  and  the 
affection  for  letters,  to  send  forth  two  series  of  essays,  which  were  re 
ceived  with  uncommon  pleasure  by  the  public.  Indeed  they  have 
obtained  what  may  be  considered  a  permanent  popularity  ;  "  The  Old 
Bachelor"  having  gone  through  three  editions,  and  "  The  British  Spy" 
through  nine.  Their  tone  is  elevated,  the  thought,  for  the  most  part, 
elegant  and  natural,  and  in  sketches  of  character  and  manner  the 
author  has  been  particularly  happy. 

In  "  The  Life  of  Patrick  Henry,"  as  being  the  work  of  more  mature 
age,  we  might  have  expected  an  abatement  of  the  ornamental  decla 
mation,  sometimes  objected  to  in  his  writings.  But  though  this 
biography  was  designed  by  the  author  for  many  years,  it  finally  passed 
from  his  hands  under  the  same  circumstances  of  haste  as  his  other  pro- 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

ductions.  His  subject,  also,  was  an  extraordinary  man,  of  whom  i* 
was  difficult  to  speak  in  the  terms  employed  by  the  witnesses  of  his 
displays,  without  being  thought  to  surcharge  the  picture ;  and  who, 
while  he  commanded  the  unlimited  admiration  of  his  contemporaries^ 
especially  in  his  native  state,  may  be  said  to  have  left  scarcely  "  the 
foot  of  Hercules"  by  which  posterity  might  imagine  the  proportions  of 
the  whole  heroic  image. 

It  appears  from  several  of  Mr.  WIRT'S  letters,  published  in  the 
excellent  biography  written  by  the  Hon.  John  P.  Kennedy,  to  have 
been  his  desire  to  retire  from  the  bar  and  devote  himself  to  literature. 
The  claims  of  a  large  family  prevented  his  carrying  out  this  intention. 
The  friends  of  American  literature  must  regret  that  this  was  the  case. 

As  an  orator,  Mr.  WIRT  was  correct  and  elegant,  various  as  well  as 
rich,  and  remarkably  perspicuous.  As  to  his  personal  qualifications  for 
his  art,  his  figure  was  pronounced  by  an  eloquent  panegyrist  to  be 
"  dignified  and  commanding ;  his  countenance  open,  manly  and  play 
ful  ;  his  voice  clear  and  musical ;  his  whole  appearance  truly  oratorical." 
His  countenance  expressed  both  benignity  and  intelligence.  His 
enunciation  was  distinct ;  and  it  may  be  mentioned,  both  as  an  en 
couragement  to  such  as  labor  under  a  like  embarrassment,  and  as  an 
example  of  what  may  be  accomplished  by  care,  under  the  guidance  of 
good  taste  and  a  fine  ear,  that  this  was  by  no  means  the  case  at  an  earlier 
period.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  then  somewhat  hurried  and  harsh, 
and  sometimes  inarticulate.  His  action  was  unstudied  and  rather 
graceful  than  energetic. 


Painted  bv  ('ol..r.Tniinli 


ill  KVi"   T, I  ALUM1 1:1  r     D)'W.l  (3 1J '.!'.,  iS.T.lVL  L.IJ. 


TIMOTHY      D  WIGHT,    D.D. 


THIS  en  le  parents,  in  North: 

•  •-    •  •  I  • 

• 

n  powers  of  her 

father.     She  .perior  genius  in 

son,  and  mother's 

fondness.     His  adva  Imost  in  his  in- 

fancy,  was  wonderfully  rapid ;  and  w.  raphers, 

that  at  the  age  of  six  years  he  studied  through  L  n  gram 

mar  twice,  without  the  knowledge  of  his  father.     When  ho.  had  just 
passed   his  admitted  a  Vale 

course  v  t  credit. 

gramm  >)  in  New 

•s,  when  he  was  chosen  a 

tute  his 

SClls.  ::<••       l.|:'V-  'S   of 

the  day  to  h  He 

was  for  six 

successful  te;i 

his  resignation 

was  pre 

his  appointment  to  the  pr<  In  directin; 

at  this  time,  Le  turned  his  attention  more  j 

and  belles  lettres,.  which  had  'e  cultiv;  ml- 

naries  previ' •  •  ariy  pro-  use 

and  verse,  in  eo<  •  with  those  of  Trun/1  '-^ys,  and 

Barlow,  formed  an  era  in  American  literature. 

In  1771  he  commenced  writing  the    "Conquest  of  Cana; 
regular  epic  poem,  which  employed  his  leisure  hours  uir 
when  it  was  completed.     On  receiving  the  degree  of  Mastei 
in  1772,  he  pronounced  an  orafJon  <>fl  the  history,  el 
poetry  of  the  Bible,  which  *a>  1  in  this  country  ai 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

England.  In  order  to  economize  his  time  at  this  period,  iind  to 
avoid  the  necessity  of  exercise,  he  restricted  himself  to  certair.  abste 
mious  rules  in  diet,  which,  in  the  end,  greatly  impaired  his  health, 
and  he  was  at  length  reluctantly  compelled  to  lay  aside  his  books. 
His  physician  recommended  the  daily  use  of  severe  bodily  exercise, 
which  he  had  endeavored  to  forego,  and  it  is  said,  that  during  a 
twelvemonth  he  walked  and  rode  upwards  of  five  thousand  miles, 
besides  resuming,  no  doubt,  that  good  old  system  of  living  to  which 
he  had  been  accustomed.  The  result,  in  a  short  time,  was  the  com 
plete  restoration  of  his  health,  which  continued  good  for  the  ensuing 
forty  years  of  his  life,  and  until  he  was  attacked  by  his  last  illness. 

In  1777  the  different  classes  in  the  college  were  separated  on 
account  of  the  war,  and  he  repaired,  with  his  class,  to  Weathers- 
field,  in  Connecticut,  where  he  remained  from  May  to  September. 
During  this  summer  he  was  licensed  to  preach  as  a  Congregational 
minister.  In  September  he  was  nominated  a  chaplain  in  the  army, 
and  immediately  joined  the  brigade  of  General  Parsons,  in  the  Mas 
sachusetts  line.  While  in  the  army  he  wrote  several  patriotic 
songs,  which  were  much  admired  and  widely  circulated. 

In  1778  he  received  the  melancholy  tidings  of  the  death  of  his 
father,  upon  which  he  resigned  his  situation  in  the  army,  and 
returned  to  Northampton,  to  assist  his  widowed  mother  in  the  edu 
cation  and  support  of  her  family.  Here  he  remained  about  five 
years,  laboring  on  the  farm  during  the  week,  and  preaching  every 
Sabbath  in  one  of  the  neighboring  towns,  besides  establishing  a 
school,  which  was  largely  patronized.  During  this  period  he  was 
twice  elected  a  member  of  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts. 

In  1783  he  was  ordained  a  minister  in  the  parish  of  Greenfield, 
in  Connecticut.  Besides  attending  to  his  parochial  duties,  he  also 
opened  an  academy  here,  which  soon  acquired  a  reputation  then 
unequalled  in  our  country ;  and  in  the  course  of  twelve  years,  he 
taught  more  than  one  thousand  scholars  in  the  various  branches  of 
English  and  classical  literature.  During  his  residence  at  Greenfield 
he  published  the  "  Conquest  of  Canaan,"  for  which,  at  the  close  01 
the  war,  he  had  obtained  a  list  of  three  thousand  subscribers.  He 
however  withheld  its  publication  at  that  time,  and  now  printed  it 
at  his  own  expense.  It  was  shortly  afterwards  republished  in  Eng 
land,  and  received  the  approbation  of  Darwin  and  Cowper,  the 
former,  particularly,  commending  the  smoothness  and  melody  of  the 
versification.  There  are  many  splendid  passages  in  this  poem,  and 
if  it  was  not  popular  with  all  classes  of  readers,  something  may, 


TIMOTHY    DWIGHT. 

doubtless,  be  attributed  to  the  theme;  and  although  me  author  himseh 
declared  in  after  life  that  "  it  was  too  great  an  undertaking  for  inex 
perienced  years,"  still,  it  must  be  considered  an  extraordinary  pro 
duction  for  a  youth  of  twenty-two. 

In  1794  he  published  his  poem  entitled  "  Greenfield  Hill,"  named 
after  the  beautiful  spot  where  he  resided. 

In  1795  he  was  elected  president  of  Yale  college,  on  the  death  of 
President  Styles.  On  his  accession  to  this  office,  he  found  the  col 
lege  in  a  depressed  state,  owing  to  the  want  of  funds  and  othei 
causes ;  but  his  distinguished  reputation  as  an  instructor  brought  to 
it  a  great  increase  of  students,  and  he  soon  succeeded  in  establishing 
two  new  professorships,  and  in  greatly  extending  the  library  and 
philosophical  apparatus.  He  not  only  enlarged  the  sphere  of  in 
struction,  but  changed  the  whole  system  of  government  of  the 
college,  while  he  reformed  the  modes  and  elevated  the  tone  of 
education,  directing  the  students  to  a  loftier  aim  in  literary  and 
moral  improvement.  The  effects  were  soon  abundantly  visible,  and 
Yale  college  has  ever  since  ranked  with  the  first  institutions  of 
learning  in  our  country.  During  the  twenty-one  years  he  presided 
over  it,  a  greater  number  of  students  were  educated  there  than  in 
any  other  similar  institution. 

In  1796  he  commenced  a  regular  course  of  travelling  through 
New  England  and  the  state  of  New  York,  which  he  continued  dur 
ing  the  spring  and  fall  vacations  in  each  succeeding  year,  until  a 
short  time  before  his  death.  In  these  excursions,  undertaken  prin 
cipally  for  the  purposes  of  health,  and  of  relaxation  from  his  sedentary 
duties  in  the  college,  he  was  in  the  habit  of  making  brief  notes,  upon 
the  spot,  of  every  thing  interesting  which  he  saw  or  heard,  for  the 
immediate  gratification  of  his  family ;  and  these  notes  were  after 
wards  written  out  by  him,  or  to  his  dictation,  by  an  amanuensis, 
and  have  been  published  since  his  death,  under  the  title  of  u  Travels 
in  New  England  and  New  York,"  in  four  volumes  octavo.  This 
work  contains  a  mass  of  useful  and  interesting  information  upon  a 
great  variety  of  topics,  with  amusing  anecdotes  and  graphic  sketches 
of  scenery  and  character.  A  most  valuable  portion  of  it  is  its  histo 
rical  notices  of  the  origin  and  customs  of  the  aborigines  of  our 
country.  He  also  left  behind  him,  ready  for  the  press,  a  complete 
system  of  divinity,  contained  in  one  hundred  and  seventy-three 
discourses  or  lectures,  which  formed  his  course  in  the  college  as 
professor  of  theology,  and  which  have  been  published,  both  in  Eng 
land  and  this  country,  under  the  title  of  "  Theology  Explained  and 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

Defended."  He  continued  the  active  performance  of  his  duties 
until  near  the  close  of  his  life,  and  heard  the  recitation  of  a  theolo 
gical  class  a  week  before  his  death.  During  his  illness,  which  con 
tinued  about  two  years,  he  occasionally  occupied  himself  in  poetical 
composition,  to  divert  his  mind  from  his  painful  sufferings.  Four 
days  previous  to  his  death,  he  performed  the  last  of  his  literary  and 
earthly  labors ;  and  as  he  laid  his  manuscript  aside,  which  was  a 
theological  dissertation,  he  said  to  his  family,  "  I  have  now  finished." 
He  died  at  his  residence  in  New  Haven,  January  llth,  1817,  after 
severe  and  repeated  attacks  of  his  disease,  the  character  of  which,  it 
is  said,  was  not  well  understood. 

In  this  brief  sketch,  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  full  justice  can  be 
done  to  the  character  of  President  DWIGHT.  We  shall  endeavor, 
however,  to  present  our  own  views  of  it,  derived  from  personal 
knowledge,  arid  the  observations  of  others,  who  have  written  his 
biography.  As  poetry  did  not  form  the  business  of  his  life,  but  was 
written  merely  as  a  mode  of  literary  relaxation,  there  have  been 
those  among  us  who  surpassed  him  in  this  department  of  literature, 
and  as  a  poet,  therefore,  we  do  not  ask  for  him  the  highest  meed  of 
praise.  His  mind,  perhaps,  was  too  logical  and  argumentative,  his 
train  of  thought  too  methodical,  and  his  memory  too  retentive  of 
facts  and  details,  and  too  much  engrossed  with  them,  to  leave  room 
for  the  display  of  that  brilliant  fancy  which  the  highest  flights  of 
poetry  require.  His  stronger  mental  powers  he  had  subjected  to  a 
severe  discipline  from  early  youth,  and  we  suspect  that  the  philoso 
phy  of  Bacon  and  Locke  had  always  more  charms  for  him  than  the 
music  of  the  Doric  reed.  Still,  some  of  his  smaller  poetical  pieces 
are  extremely  beautiful. 

But  the  fame  of  Dr.  DWIGHT  was  not  built  upon  his  poetry,  and 
does  not  rest  upon  it.  As  an  instructor,  he  stood  pre-eminent  among 
his  contemporaries,  from  the  opening  of  his  grammar  school  in  New 
Haven,  while  a  mere  youth,  to  the  close  of  his  career  as  president  of 
Yale  college.  He  early  made  innovations  upon  previous  methods 
of  instruction,  which  were  dictated  by  his  powerful  and  original 
genius,  and  they  were  attended  with  signal  success,  as  many  who 
now  occupy  high  places  amongst  us  can  bear  witness.  The  art  of 
the  pedagogue,  under  his  hands,  expanded  into  a  noble  vocation, 
which  commanded  respect  and  veneration,  and  elevated  science  and 
literature  in  our  country  to  a  rank  which,  before  his  time,  they 
nad  not  attained.  Over  his  pupils  he  exercised  an  unbounded  in 
fluence  which  was  cemented  in  affection ;  and  his  unwearied  efforts 


TIMOTHY  DWIGHT. 

at  all  times  were,  to  pour  into  their  minds  that  ripe  knowledge, 
which  it  had  been  the  whole  business  of  his  life  to  treasure  up  from 
study,  meditation,  and  a  familiar  intercourse  with  the  world.  He 
was  versed  in  almost  every  subject  of  science  and  art,  and  besides 
his  own  peculiar  and  professional  studies,  he  had  acquired  inex 
haustible  treasures  in  natural  philosophy,  chemistry,  history,  geo 
graphy,  statistics,  philology,  husbandry,  and  domestic  economy ; 
and  which  were  so  methodically  arranged  in  his  mind,  as  to  be 
always  at  command,  and  when  he  became  animated  in  discourse, 
were  poured  forth  from  his  lips  in  a  perpetual  stream  of  knowledge 
and  wisdom. 

Dr.  D WIGHT'S  colloquial  powers  were  very  great,  and  no  one  who 
had  the  pleasure  of  listening  to  his  conversation  ever  failed  to  be 
impressed  with  a  high  opinion  of  his  great  attainments,  and  a  pro 
found  respect  for  his  character,  which  was  heightened  by  his  polish 
ed  and  courteous  address.  To  strangers  he  was  urbane  and  affable, 
and  among  the  friends  of  his  fireside,  he  intermingled,  in  his  social 
converse,  flashes  of  wit  with  practical  wisdom,  the  utile  cum  dulci, 
*n  the  most  fascinating  degree.  His  temper  was  ardent,  but  his  heart 
was  full  of  kindness,  and  probably  no  husband,  father,  or  friend, 
was  ever  more  beloved  than  he  was  by  those  to  whom  he  stood  in 
these  relations.  To  them  his  loss  was  irreparable,  and  a  whole 
community  sympathized  in  their  sorrows.  His  memory  was  a  store 
house  of  anecdotes  upon  all  subjects,  which  he  had  been  indus 
triously  collecting  from  books,  and  a  long  and  attentive  observation  of 
mankind ;  and  little  of  what  he  had  once  learned  was  afterwards 
forgotten.  Hence  his  society  was  greatly  courted,  and  the  atten 
tions  which  he  uniformly  received  from  all  classes  of  his  fellow 
citizens,  were  richly  repaid  by  the  instruction  and  pleasure  which 
his  conversation  afforded. 

As  a  theologian  he  stood  at  the  head  of  his  profession,  at  the  time 
of  his  death,  and  was  inferior  in  learning  to  none  of  his  predecessors, 
if  we  except,  perhaps,  his  maternal  grandfather,  President  Edwards. 
As  a  proof  of  the  correctness  of  this  high  praise,  we  confidently  refer 
to  his  voluminous  theological  works,  and  the  criticisms  which  have 
been  pronounced  upon  them,  both  at  home  and  abroad.  He  was  an 
eloquent  preacher,  and  although  his  discourses  were  addressed  to 
the  understanding  rather  than  the  passions  of  his  hearers,  who  were 
statedly  the  members  of  the  college,  yet,  when  the  subject  admitted 
of  oratorical  display,  he  showed  himself  equal  to  the  highest  efforts 
of  the  art.  His  sublime  conceptions  of  the  Deity,  especially  of  the 

5  Rl 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

divine  attributes  of  love  and  mercy,  on  which  he  delighted  to  dwell, 
when  embodied  in  his  powerful  and  impressive  language,  were  only 
second  to  those  of  the  great  English  epic  poet ;  while  in  touches  of 
pathos,  particularly  in  his  funeral  discourses,  or  over  the  premature 
grave  of  youthful  genius,  he  opened  a  direct  and  easy  avenue  to  the 
stoutest  heart,  and  his  appeals  were  irresistible.  His  voice  was  clear, 
distinct,  and  loud,  and  its  inflections,  although  few,  were  musical  and 
agreeable ;  the  only  defect  in  his  elocution  was,  too  marked  and  fre 
quent  an  emphasis,  and  too  little  variety  in  his  tones  ;  but  his  manner  was 
dignified,  earnest,  and  impressive,  evincing  sincere  and  ardent  piety, 
and  a  feeling  heart.  The  effect  of  his  eloquence  was  enhanced  by  his 
fine  personal  appearance,  graceful  gestures,  and  an  eye  of  fire. 

In  his  intercourse  with  his  fellow  men  and  his  "  walk  with  God," 
he  was  everything  which  the  most  devout  Christian  or  rigid  moralist 
could  desire ;  and  when  he  expired,  our  country  was  bereaved  of  a 
great  and  good  man,  and  learning  and  religion  sustained  a  loss  not 
easily  supplied.  Nor  can  the  influence  of  such  a  man  ever  die.  His 
own  family,  and  many  other  eminent  men,  whom  he  prepared  for  use 
fulness,  yet  diffuse  blessings  around  them,  and  will  continue  to  act  on 
the  world  till  time  shall  end.  The  works  of  the  amiable  and  eloquent 
divine  are  yet  teaching  our  ministers,  and  his  name  and  memory  in 
Yale  College  are  still  held  in  grateful  remembrance.  May  our  young 
men  imitate  his  example,  diffuse  their  usefulness,  and  find  that  — 

The  sweet  remembrance  of  the  just. 

Like  a  green  root,  revives,  and  bears 

A  train  of  blessings  for  his  heirs, 
When  dying  nature  sleeps  in  dust. 


,IOKI,      1 5. MvLOVV 


JOEL     B AR 1 


THIS  di 

villp 

earn 

farmer, 

ren, 

education  of  yc>: 

and  after  going1  through  his  ,  i  by 

his  guardians  at  Dartmouth  college,  Is e\v  J 

remained  a  short  time,  when  he  was  transferred  to 

New  Haven.     He  here  displayed  a  talent  for  poetical  con:- 

and  ihis 

HAH 

. 

country,  entering 

state.     He,  ho  - 

only  sallied  i 

various  encourik;  said  to  ) 

in  the  warmly  contested  bir  -ns. 

In  1778,  he  received  the 

occasion,  pronounced  an  <  ub 

;i.     On  leaving  college,  he  made  choice  of  the  profession  />f  the 

law,  and  entered  zealously  upon  its  studio,  but  relinquished  them  in 
vv  months,  on  being  strongly  nra«»d  by  bis  friends  to  qu 
,elfforthe  Christian  with  a  v^w  to  enter  the  arn-. , 

a  chaplain  ;  and  after  uiJy  six  «t^ks  =  ir-,  he  was  lice: 

immediately  rej-.  e  upon  his  new 

a  ;  in  the  perfor;  general  '»-. 

and  was  much  respected  a*  a  H*.-,  however,  did  not  neglect 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

the  muse,  but  employed  his  leisure  in  composing  the  "Vision  of 
Columbus,"  which  afterwards  formed  the  basis  of  his  great  epic 
poem,  "  the  Columbiad ;"  and  occasionally  wrote  patriotic  songs  and 
addresses,  in  conjunction  with  Dr.  Dwight,  also  a  chaplain  in  the 
army,  and  Colonel  Humphreys,  which  are  supposed  to  have  had  a 
considerable  influence  in  exciting  and  keeping  alive  the  enthusiasm 
of  the  soldiery. 

On  taking  the  degree  of  master  of  arts,  in  1781,  he  recited  another 
original  poem,  entitled  the  "  Prospect  of  Peace,"  which  he  afterwards 
incorporated  in  the  Vision  of  Columbus,  and  which  appears  with 
some  alterations  in  the  Columbiad.  About  this  period,  he  married 
Miss  Baldwin,  a  daughter  of  the  Honorable  Abraham  Baldwin,  ther? 
of  New  Haven,  and  subsequently  of  Georgia,  which  state  he  repre 
sented  for  many  years  in  the  senate  of  the  United  States. 

BARLOW  remained  with  the  army  until  the  acknowledgment  of  oui 
independence  in  1783,  when  he  abandoned  the  clerical  profession 
and  reverted  to  his  original  plan  of  pursuing  that  of  the  law ;  with 
which  view  he  removed  to  the  city  of  Hartford,  where  he  settled 
himself,  as  he  probably  imagined,  for  life.  In  addition  to  his  legal 
pursuits,  and  for  the  purpose  of  immediate  support,  he  established 
a  weekly  paper,  and  gained  considerable  reputation  by  various 
original  articles  upon  the  subject  of  politics,  which  were  novelties 
at  that  day. 

About  the  same  period,  he  was  employed  by  an  association  of  the 
clergy  of  Connecticut,  to  revise  Dr.  Watts'  version  of  the  Psalms,  so 
as  to  adapt  them  to  the  new  order  of  things  in  our  country ;  which 
service  he  performed  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  churches ;  and  he  also 
added  some  original  hymns  of  his  own  composition,  besides  versi 
fying  some  Psalms  which  had  been  omitted  by  Dr.  Watts.  A  distin 
guished  critic*  has  said  of  one  of  these — the  hundred  and  thirty- 
seventh  Psalm, — that  it  possesses  "all  the  elegance  and  polish  of 
language  of  the  most  highly  finished  modern  poetry."  The  volume 
was  published  in  1786,  and  was  used  for  many  years  as  the  author 
ized  version  of  the  Congregational  Churches  of  New  England.  In 
the  following  year,  the  "  Vision  of  Columbus"  was  published,gpth  a 
dedication  to  Louis  XVI.,  and,  in  a  few  months  afterwards,  it 
was  reprinted  both  in  London  and  Paris.  He  now  relinquished 
his  newspaper,  and  opened  a  bookstore,  principally  for  the  purpose 


See  "  Biograj-  hy  of  JOEL  BARLOW,"  published  in  the  Analectic'Magazine,  in  1814. 


JOEL  BARLOW. 

of  disposing  of  his  own  productions.  This  object  being  accom 
plished,  he  again  resumed  the  practice  of  the  law ;  but  his  success 
in  this  arduous  profession  was  not  very  flattering ;  he  was  deficient 
in  forensic  abilities,  and  his  previous  desultory  studies  and  varied 
pursuits  were  certainly  not  friendly  to  the  acquisition  of  profound 
legal  knowledge.  He  soon  abandoned  the  bar,  and  engaged  in  other 
scenes,  which  led  him  from  his  native  country,  and  at  length  to 
fortune,  and  a  wider  fame. 

In  1788,  he  embarked  for  Europe,  charged  with  an  important  land 
agency,  and  after  passing  a  short  time  in  England,  he  crossed  over 
to  France,  where  he  concluded  his  agency  to  the  satisfaction  of  his 
employers,  but  without  much  pecuniary  advantage  to  himself.  The 
revolution  was  then  in  progress;  and  embued  as  he  was  with  repub 
lican  principles,  and  enthusiastic  by  character,  he  was  induced  to 
remain  in  that  country,  in  order  to  watch  the  development  of  the 
grand  drama,  which,  we  doubt  not,  he  sincerely  believed  would  result 
in  the  happiness  of  the  people,  by  the  overthrow  of  corrupt  and 
despotic  power. 

In  1791,  he  returned  to  England,  where  he  remained  a  year  or 
more,  and  published  the  first  part  of  a  political  work  entitled  "  Advice 
to  the  Privileged  Orders,"  which,  with  the  addition  of  a  second  part, 
has  since  been  several  times  reprinted.  This  publication  attracted 
the  notice  of  the  celebrated  Mr.  Fox,  who  pronounced  a  formal  eulogy 
upon  it  in  the  house  of  commons.  In  1792,  he  published  a  short 
poem  entitled  "  Conspiracy  of  Kings,"  which  was  suggested  by  the 
coalition  of  the  European  sovereigns  against  republican  France.  In 
the  same  year  he  addressed  a  letter  to  the  national  convention,  in 
which  he  criticises  their  first  constitution,  and  recommends  the  abo 
lition  of  the  royal  power,  and  the  severance  of  church  and  state. 
Towards  the  close  of  the  same  year,  the  London  constitutional 
society,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  voted  an  address  to  the  national 
convention,  and  deputed  Mr.  BARLOW  and  another  member  to  present 
it.  He  was  received  in  France  with  great  respect,  and  complimented 
with  the  rights  of  citizenship,  an  honor  which  had  been  conferred 
upon  General  Washington  and  General  Hamilton. 

From  this  period,  BARLOW,  for  a  time,  fixed  his  residence  in 
France,  fearing,  as  is  supposed,  to  return  to  England,  in  conse 
quence  of  the  resentment  of  the  government  being  pointed  against 
him,  on  account  of  his  political  writings  and  connections  in  that 
country.  He  afterwards  accompanied  a  deputation  of  the  conven 
tion  to  the  newly  acquired  territory  of  Savoy,  to  organize  it  as  a 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

department  of  the  republic.  He  spent  the  winter  at  Chamberry, 
where,  at  the  request  of  his  friends  of  the  convention,  he  write  an 
address  to  the  people  of  Piedmont,  recommending  them  to  throw  off 
their  allegiance  to  "  the  man  of  Turin,  who  called  himself  their  king." 
During  this  winter  he  wrote  the  poem,  entitled,  "  Hasty  Pudding ;'' 
which  is  one  of  the  happiest  of  his  productions,  and  shews,  that 
wherever  he  was  a  wanderer,  and  in  whatever  scenes  he  was 
engaged,  there  existed  in  his  mind  endearing  recollections  of  child 
hood  and  of  home.  This  poem,  by  an  excess  of  eulogy,  perhaps, 
has;  been  compared  to  Goldsmith's  "  Deserted  Village." 

From  Savoy  he  returned  to  Paris,  where  he  continued  to  reside 
for  three  years,  and,  with  the  exception  of  a  translation  of  Volney's 
Ruins,  forebore  all  literary  occupation.  He,  however,  engaged  in 
various  commercial  speculations,  by  which  he  realized  a  handsome 
fortune.  About  the  year  1 795,  he  was  sent  as  an  agent  on  private 
business  to  the  north  of  Europe,  and  soon  after  his  retuin,  he  received 
from  President  Washington  the  appointment  of  consul  to  Algiers, 
with  powers  to  negotiate  a  treaty  of  peace  with  the  dey,  and  to 
ransom  all  American  citizens  held  in  slavery  on  the  coast  of  Barbary. 
He  immediately  proceeded  on  his  mission,  crossing  through  Spain, 
over  to  Algiers.  He  concluded  treaties  with  the  dey,  and  with  Tunis 
and  Tripoli,  and  redeemed  and  sent  home  all  the  American  captives 
whom  he  could  discover,  amounting  to  about  one  hundred. 

In  1797,  he  resigned  his  consulship,  and  returned  to  Paris,  where 
he  again  entered  into  successful  commercial  speculations,  devoting 
his  leisure  to  political  writings,  and  in  1805,  after  an  absence  of 
nearly  seventeen  years,  he  returned  to  his  native  country,  with  the 
determination  of  fixing  his  residence  in  it  for  the  rest  of  his  life. 

With  this  view,  he  chose  a  beautiful  situation  within  the  District 
of  Columbia,  and  reared  upon  it  a  mansion,  which  he  dignified  with 
the  name  of  Kalorama ;  here  he  lived  in  an  elegant  and  hospitable 
manner,  associating  on  terms  of  intimacy  and  friendship;  with  our 
most  distinguished  citizens.  But  the  native  energies  of  his  character 
would  not  permit  him  to  remain  idle,  and  he  immediately  engaged 
with  great  zeal  in  sundry  efforts  for  the  advancement  of  science  and 
the  arts  among  his  countrymen.  One  of  his  schemes  was  the  estab 
lishment  of  a  national  academy,  to  be  under  the  patronage  of  the 
general  government,  and  similar  to  the  National  Institute  of  France. 
This  had  been  a  favorite  project  with  Washington,  and  also  received 
-he  approbation  of  President  Jefferson ;  but  on  being  laid  before 
congress,  it  failed  to  receive  their  sanction.  Defeated  in  this  effort; 


JOEL  BARLOW. 

he  now  turned  his  attention  to  the  revision  and  put  ication  of  his 
great  epic,  and  in  1808,  the  Columbiad  made  its  appearance  in  a 
splendid  volume,  embellished  with  several  fine  engravings,  which 
were  executed  in  London  by  the  first  artists.  It  was  dedicated  to 
Robert  Fulton,  with  whom  BARLOW  was  on  terms  of  great  intimacy, 
being  accustomed  to  regard  him,  indeed,  as  his  adopted  son.  This 
dedication  was  alike  honorable  to  both,  and  showed  a  better  taste 
than  the  courtly  dedication  of  the  "  Vision  of  Columbus"  to  one  of 
the  monarchs  of  Europe. 

After  the  publication  of  the  Columbiad,  BARLOW  employed  himself 
in  making  a  collection  of  historical  documents,  with  a  view  of  writing 
a  general  history  of  the  United  States ;  but  in  1811,  while  occupied 
in  these  quiet  literary  labors,  he  was  unexpectedly  nominated  by 
President  Madison,  minister  plenipotentiary  to  the  court  of  France. 
He  accepted  the  mission,  and  as  is  well  known,  made  every  effort  to 
negotiate  with  the  Emperor  Napoleon,  a  treaty  of  commerce,  and 
of  indemnification  for  former  spoliations,  but  without  effect;  being 
perpetually  baffled  by  the  intrigues  of.the  French  diplomatists.* 

At  length,  in  October,  in  1812,  he  was  invited  by  the  Duke  de 
Bassano  to  a  personal  conference  with  the  emperor  at  Wilna,  in 
Poland.  He  immediately  started  on  this  journey,  travelling  night 
and  day  in  a  most  inclement  season  of  the  year,  and  through  coun 
tries  wasted  by  war,  and  which  could  scarcely  afford  him  a  com 
fortable  meal.  The  consequence  was,  that  from  his  privations,  and 
exposure  to  the  severities  of  the  weather,  he  was  attacked  with  an 
inflammation  of  the  lungs,  from  which  he  never  recovered.  He  died 
on  the  twenty-second  of  December,  1812,  at  Zarnavica,  an  obscure 
village  in  Poland,  near  Cracow.  He  had  not  reached  his  destination, 
and  consequently  did  not  effect  the  object  of  his  mission,  but  he  is 
entitled  to  much  credit  for  the  energy  and  perseverance  which  he 
manifested  not  to  lose  the  opportunity  of  an  interview  with  the 
emperor,  which  he  was  induced  to  think  would  result  favorably  to 
the  interests  of  his  country. 


*  The  writer  of  this  sketch  has  been  told  by  an  American  gentleman,  who  was  in  Paris  at  the 
time,  and  intimate  with  the  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  the  Duke  of  Bassano;  that  the  wi.'y  diplomatist 
questioned  him  about  the  peculiar  traits  of  Mr.  BARLOW'S  character.  The  gentleman,  who  personally 
knew  Mr.  BARLOW,  candidly  replied  that  he  believed  the  American  minister  possessed  the  ordinary 
vanity  of  men  in  general,  and  besides,  being  an  author  and  a  poet,  he  doubtless  had  his  share  oi  the 
professional  egotism  of  his  class.  The  duke,  it  is  said,  immediately  procured  one  of  the  splendid 
copies  of  the  Columbiad,  and  caused  it  to  be  placed  in  a  conspicuous  part  of  his  library,  fiere  it 

could  not  fail  Jo  aUract  the  notice  of  the  author  on  his  interviews. 

5 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

In  Paris,  every  honor  was  paid  to  his  memory  as  a  man  of  letters, 
and  a  distinguished  public  functionary.  The  celebrated  Helen  Maria 
Williams  wrote  his  epitaph,  and  an  eulogy  was  read  before  the 
society  for  the  encouragement  of  national  industry,  by  Dupont  de 
Nemours.  In  the  following  year,  an  account  of  his  life  and  writings, 
in  quarto,  was  published  in  Paris,  accompanied  by  an  extract  from 
the  Columbiad,  translated  into  French  heroic  verse. 

Mr.  BARLOW  is  described  as  having  been  an  amiable  man  in  private 
life,  of  domestic  habits,  and  of  grave  and  dignified,  but  not  courtly 
manners.  He  was  reserved  in  mixed  company,  having  little  spright- 
liness  or  facility  of  general  conversation ;  but  upon  subjects  which 
excited  him,  or  formed  the  theme  of  his  studies,  he  conversed  with 
animation  and  interest.  His  rnind  was  of  a  philosophical  cast,  and 
better  fitted  for  the  examination  of  matters  requiring  patient  and 
profound  thought,  than  to  "  wander  in  fancy's  fairy  fields." 

BARLOW'S  prose  style  has  been  correctly  described  as  perspicuous 
and  forcible,  as  bearing  the  stamp  of  an  active,  acute,  and  powerful 
mind,  confident  of  its  own  strength,  but  without  native  grace,  and 
with  little  elaborate  elegance ;  while  much  of  his  poetry  is  highly 
polished,  and  sometimes  magnificent,  although  it  may  seem  to  lack 
somewhat  of  the  divine  inspiration  of  the  muse.  It  was  judiciously 
modelled  after  the  poetry  of  Pope  and  of  Goldsmith,  and  is  always 
correct  in  its  versification.  Although  BARLOW  may  not  rank  among 
the  few  distinguished  epic  poets  who  have  appeared  in  the  world  at 
rare  intervals,  still,  in  the  opinion  of  many,  he  is  to  be  classed,  if  not 
as  the  best  poet,  at  least  among  the  best,  which  our  country  has  pro 
duced.  How  many  of  the  modern  English  poets,  who  have  attempted 
to  write  an  epic,  are  his  superiors,  we  leave  the  critics  to  judge. 

Upon  the  whole,  from  his  superior  natural  genius,  which  was  early 
noted  and  acknowledged,  his  expanded  knowledge  of  the  world,  his 
moral,-  philosophical,  and  political  disquisitions,  the  public  stations 
which  he  held,  his  pure  and  ardent  patriotism,  developed  in  the 
revolution,  and  sustained  throughout  his  life ;  his  staunch,  orthodox, 
and  unbending  republican  principles ;  his  poetic  talents,  arid  polished 
productions ;  the  amiability  and  benevolence  of  his  private  character, 
and  purity  of  his  public  life :  JOEL  BARLOW  well  deserves,  and  will 
maintain,  an  elevated  rank  among  the  distinguished  men  of  our 
country. 


Painted  by  Waldo  ScJewett.  for    riio  Tiiunbull  GaJleiy.Yale  College, Hew  Haven.  riigiavsa "by  A.B .Tjurand 


JOHN    T  R  U 


OP  the  id  ability  with  wn 

talo 

. 

Trumbull;  h- 
in  descent  from  the  Reverend  Job: 

•grims,  whose  son  came  into  the  country 

or  ignorance  of  the  family  phys  'irly 

early  grave ; 

red 

over 

. 
uade 

• 
;r.ited  in 

• 
at,  and  to  : 

- 

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le  Easy': ;  this  work  he  stucU 
ains.     He  in  the  san 

•%e  possessed:  a'  ,  rion  of 

:-fid  a  copy  by  Srnybert,  o1 
He  had,  before  he  went  t= 

;of  &  book  called  "Tl 
^  copy  of  the  work  from  Londoi 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS 

paintings  were  not  the  rude  daubs  of  an  ignorant  boy.  At  this  time 
Copley  was  in  Boston,  and  TRUMBULL'S  first  visit  to  that  distin 
guished  artist  happened  to  be  made  at  a  time,  when  he  was  enter 
taining  his  friends  shortly  after  his  marriage :  he  was  dressed  on  the 
occasion,  in  a  suit  of  crimson  velvet  with  gold  buttons,  and  the 
elegance  of  his  style  and  his  high  repute,  impressed  the  future  artist 
with  grand  ideas  of  a  painter's  life.  After  leaving  college,  he  painted 
his  first  original  picture,  the  Battle  of  Cannae,  and  soon  after,  the 
Judgment  of  Brutus.  But  at  this  time,  the  stirring  incidents  of  the 
controversy  with  Great  Britain,  attracted  the  attention  of  all  ages 
and  all  ranks,  and  TRUMBULL  abandoned  the  palette  and  became  an 
active  politician.  His  father  wished  him  to  become  a  clergyman, 
but  the  son  not  liking  the  profession,  gave  the  reins  to  his  patriotic 
zeal,  and  was  made  adjutant  in  the  first  Connecticut  regiment,  which 
was  stationed  at  Roxbury.  Here  his  drawing  became  of  service. 
Washington  was  desirous  to  obtain  a  draft  of  the  enemy's  works, 
and  hearing  of  the  young  adjutant's  ability,  he  requested  him  to 
attempt  it.  By  cautious  approaches,  he  had  succeeded  in  obtaining 
a  knowledge  of  the  position  of  every  gun,  and  had  proceeded  in  his 
drawing,  when  a  deserter  came  into  the  camp  and  communicated  all 
that  was  necessary  to  be  known  and  a  slight  sketch  of  the  works, 
which  confirmed  TRUMBULL'S,  so  far  as  he  had  gone.  In  August, 

1775,  he  was  appointed  aid-de-camp  to  the  commander-in-chief,  and 
after  some  two  or  three  months,  major  of  brigade.     In  that  situation, 
he  became  more  particularly  known  to  the  adjutant-general,  Gates,  by 
the  careful  accuracy  of  his  returns ;  and  in  the  following  year  that 
officer  having  been  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  northern  depart 
ment,  he  was  induced  to  offer  TRUMBULL  the  office  of  adjutant-general. 
He  accompanied  the  army  to  New  York,  and  on  the  28th  of  June, 

1776,  departed  with  General  Gates;  at  which  date  his  rank  as  colonel 
and  adjutant-general  commenced.     Shortly  after  their  arrival  at  Ti- 
conderoga,  he  reconnoitered  Mount  Independence,  which  had  not  at 
that  time  been  explored ;  and  he  again  more  fully  examined  it  as  a 
military  position,  in  company  with  General  Wayne,  which  led  to  its 
occupation.     While  here,  he  was  impressed  with  the  belief  that  the 
whole  position  was  commanded  by  Mount  Defiance,  (Sugar-loaf  Hill,) 
a  height  situated  nearly  at  an  equal  distance  from  Mount  Indepen 
dence  and  Ticonderoga,  and  he  took  an  occasion  to  mention  his 
opinion ;  but  his  suggestion  was  not  acted  upon,  and  the  next  cam 
paign,  General  St.  Clair  was  left  to  defend  the  original  lines  with 
three  thousand  men.     The   British  took  possession  of  Mount  De- 


JOHN  TRUMBULL. 

liance,  from  which,  according  to  their  own  account,  they  could 
observe  every  movement  of  the  Americans  within  their  lines.  The 
abandonment  of  the  entire  position  became  immediately  necessary, 
and  St.  Glair  deserved  great  praise  for  his  well-conducted  retreat,  by 
which  the  army  was  saved  from  capture,  and  became  the  nucleus  of 
that  force,  which  afterwards  prostrated  the  British  power  in  the 
northern  department.  In  the  mean  time,  the  adjutant-general  had 
remained  without  a  commission :  this  rendered  his  situation  pecu 
liarly  painful,  and  what  rendered  it  more  so  was,  that  other  and 
inferior  officers  did  receive  commissions,  giving  them  rank  equal  to 
his  own.  After  the  termination  of  the  campaign  of  1776,  General 
Gates  received  orders  from  the  commander-in-chief  to  join  him  with 
all  his  disposable  force  behind  the  Delaware,  which  he  did,  a  few 
days  before  the  battle  of  Trenton.  News  was  at  that  time  received, 
that  the  British  had  landed  at  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  with  consider 
able  force.  General  Arnold  was  ordered  to  proceed  to  Rhode  Island 
to  assume  the  command  of  the  militia  and  oppose  the  enemy,  and 
TRUMBULL  was  ordered  to  accompany  him  as  adjutant-general. 
The  head  quarters  were  established  at  Providence  for  the  winter, 
and  there,  in  the  month  of  March,  he  received  his  commission  as 
adjutant-general,  with  the  rank  of  colonel,  but  dated  in  September, 
instead  of  the  previous  June.  Whatever  was  the  cause  of  this  is 
unknown  ;  but  it  added  to  the  chagrin  and  vexation  of  the  officer 
commissioned,  and  within  an  hour  he  returned  it,  under  cover,  to 
the  president  of  congress,  accompanied  with  a  letter,  perhaps  too 
concise  and  laconic,  stating  the  impossibility  of  serving,  unless  the 
date  was  altered  to  correspond  with  the  date  of  his  actual  service. 
A  correspondence  of  some  length  ensued,  when  his  resignation  was 
accepted,  and  thus  terminated  his  military  career. 

After  a  short  visit  to  Lebanon,  he  went  to  Boston,  to  profit  by  the 
study  of  the  works  of  Copley  and  others.  Here  he  became  acquainted 
with  Mr.  John  Temple,  afterwards,  the  first  consul-general  of  Great 
Britain  to  the  United  States ;  through  him  he  ascertained  the  possi 
bility  of  his  going  in  safety  to  London,  to  study  under  Mr.  West.  In 
May,  1780,  he  embarked  for  Prance,  and  after  a  short  stay  at  Paris, 
reached  London  in  August.  He  was  kindly  received  by  Mr.  West, 
under  whose  liberal  instruction,  he  pursued  his  studies  without  inter 
ruption  until  about  the  middle  of  November ;  at  that  time,  the  news 
of  the  death  of  Major  Andre  was  received,  and  occasioned  a  violent 
irritation  in  the  public  mind.  It  was  his  misfortune  to  lodge  in  the 
same  house  with  another  American,  who  had  been  an  officer,  against 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

whom  a  warrant  had  been  issued  to  apprehend  him  for  high  treason  ; 
instructions  had  been  given  to  arrest,  (ad  interim,)  the  painter,  and 
secure  his  papers.  The  following  day,  he  was  examined  before  the 
principal  magistrates  of  the  police,  and  was  committed  to  prison. 
On  hearing  this,  the  apprehensions  of  Mr.  West  were  aroused,  for  he 
well  knew  that  he  had  enemies  about  the  person  of  the  king ;  he, 
therefore,  hastened  to  the  palace  and  asked  an  audience,  which  was 
granted,  and  he  proceeded  to  state  to  the  king  his  personal  knowledge 
of  the  conduct  of  TRUMBULL  while  in  London.  After  listening  to 
him  patiently,  the  king  replied ;  "  West,  I  have  known  you  long,  and 
I  dont  know  that  I  have  ever  received  any  incorrect  information  from 
you  on  any  subject,  I,  therefore,  fully  believe  all  that  you  have  said 
on  the  present  occasion.  I  sincerely  regret  the  situation  of  the  young 
man,  but  I  cannot  do  any  thing  to  assist  him, — he  is  in  the  power  of 
the  law,  and  I  cannot  interfere.  Are  his  parents  living?"  To  which 
Mr.  West  answered  that  his  father  was.  "  Then  I  most  sincerely 
pity  him,"  said  the  king.  After  a  moment's  pause  he  continued, 
"  Go  immediately  to  Mr.  TRUMBULL,  and  give  him  my  royal  assur 
ance,  that  in  the  worst  possible  event  of  the  law,  his  life  will  be  safe." 
This  assurance  of  course,  softened  in  a  great  degree,  the  rigors  of  a 
winters  confinement,  and  enabled  him  to  proceed  with  his  studies. 
He  copied,  during  the  period,  the  St.  Jerome  of  Correggio,  which  is 
now  in  the  collection  at  Yale  college.  At  length  a  turn  took  place 
in  the  affairs  of  the  two  countries,  and  the  British  government  began 
to  relax  their  severity.  TRUMBULL,  after  about  eight  months  deten 
tion,  was  admitted  to  bail  by  a  special  order  of  the  king  in  council, 
on  condition  of  quitting  the  kingdom  within  thirty  days.  His  secu 
rities  were  West  and  Copley.  He  crossed  over  to  Ostend,  thence 
proceeded  to  Amsterdam,  and  embarked  for  Philadelphia  in  the 
South  Carolina  frigate ;  but  the  ship  falling  short  of  water  and  provi 
sions,  they  put  into  Corunna,  in  Spain.  There  he  left  that  ship,  and 
took  passage  to  Bilboa,  whence  he  returned  home  in  January,  1782. 
Fatigue,  vexation,  and  disappointment,  brought  on  a  fit  of  illness, 
which  confined  him  at  his  father's  the  principal  part  of  the  ensuing 
summer ;  after  which,  he  again  visited  the  army,  then  at  Verplank's 
Point,  and  entered  into  an  arrangement  with  his  brother  and  others, 
for  the  supply  of  the  army. 

In  the  spring  of  1783  the  news  arrived  of  the  preliminaries  of 
peace  having  been  arranged.  He  was  then  at  Lebanon,  and  his 
father  took  the  occasion  to  urge  him  to  pursue  the  profession  of  the 
law.  Hfc  represented  it  as  the  leading  profession  in  a  republic,  and 


JOHN  TRUMBULL. 

above  all  others  likely  to  reward  industry  and  gratify  ambition.  To 
which  his  son  replied  ;  that  so  far  as  he  understood  the  law,  it  was 
rendered  necessary  by  the  vices  of  mankind  ;  that  a  lawyer  must  be 
able,  not  only  to  defend  the  right,  but  must  be  equally  distinguished 
for  his  acuteness  and  skill  in  extricating  rogues  from  the  conse 
quences  of  their  villainy;  and  as  he  viewed  the  life  of  a  lawyer,  it 
must  be  passed  in  the  midst  of  all  the  wickednesses  and  meannesses 
of  the  baser  part  of  mankind  :  he  then  went  on  to  give  his  ideas  of 
an  artist's  life — referred  to  Copley  and  West  as  living  examples, 
and  enlarged  on  the  honors  and  rewards  bestowed  on  artists  by  the 
ancients,  particularly  at  Athens.  "  My  son,"  replied  the  governor, 
"  you  have  made  an  excellent  argument,  but  its  operation  is  against 
yourself :  it  serves  to  satisfy  me,  that  in  the  profession  of  the  law 
you  might  take  a  respectable  stand,  but  in  your  case  you  have 
omitted  one  point,  as  the  lawyers  express  it."  What  is  that,  sir  I  — 
"  That  Connecticut  is  not  Athens."  He  then  bowed,  left  the  room, 
and  never  afterwards  interfered  in  the  choice  of  a  profession. 

In  November,  1783,  Colonel  TRUMBULL  again  embarked  for 
England,  where  he  pursued  his  studies  indefatigably  under  Mr. 
West ;  and  in  1785,  had  made  such  progress,  as  to  copy  for  him  his 
celebrated  picture  of  the  battle  of  La  Hogue.  TRUMBULL  composed 
and  painted  immediately  afterwards,  "  Priam  bearing  back  to  his 
palace  the  body  of  Hector  :"  the  success  of  which  induced  him  to 
commence  a  project  which  had  long  been  floating  in  his  mind,  of 
painting  a  series  of  pictures  of  the  principal  scenes  of  the  revolution. 
He  began  with  "  The  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill,"  which  was  composed 
and  finished  in  the  early  part  of  1786,  and  "  The  Death  of  Montgo 
mery  before  Quebec"  immediately  afterward.  These  pictures  met 
with  general  approbation  not  only  in  London,  but  in  Paris,  Berlin, 
Dresden,  and  other  parts  of  the  continent,  and  as  soon  as  possible 
they  were  placed  in  the  hands  of  eminent  engravers.  To  Mr. 
Adams  in  London,  and  Mr.  Jefferson  in  Paris,  while  painting  their 
portraits,  the  artist  communicated  his  project  of  painting  a  series  of 
national  pictures,  which  they  highly  approved,  and  by  their  concur 
rence  the  subjects  were  chosen,  several  of  which  have  since  been 
executed.  Finding  the  painting  of  Bunker  Hill  had  given  offence  to 
some  in  London,  and  being  desirous  to  conciliate,  he  determined  to 
paint  one  subject  from  British  history,  and  selected  "  The  sortie  of 
the  garrison  of  Gibraltar."  Of  this  subject,  the  first  study  was 
made  in  oil,  twelve  by  sixteen  inches;  this  was  presented  to  Mr 
West  as  an  acknowledgment  for  his  kindness ;  then  a  second 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

twenty  by  thirty  inches  was  carefully  and  laboriously  finished,  with 
the  intention  of  having  it  engraved  :*  being  tenacious  of  rendering 
the  composition  as  perfect  as  in  his  power,  he  rejected  that  picture, 
and  began  another  six  feet  by  nine.  This  occupied  the  greater  part 
of  the  year  1788,  and  in  the  spring  of  '89,  it  was  exhibited  by  itself 
in  Spring  Garden,  London,  and  received  great  applause.  It  was  en 
graved  by  Sharp,  the  first  engraver  of  the  age  ;  and  has  since  been 
purchased  by  the  Atheneum  at  Boston. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  present  constitution  of  the  United  States  had 
been  framed,  and  the  first  session  of  congress  was  appointed  to  be 
held  in  New  York,  in  December,  1789;  the  time  had  arrived,  there 
fore,  for  proceeding  with  the  American  pictures.  He  arrived  in  New 
York  in  November  of  that  year,  and  painted  as  many  of  the  heads 
of  the  signers  of  the  declaration  of  independence,  as  were  present. 
Washington  sat  for  his  portrait  at  Trenton  and  Princeton,  and  in  the 
summer  of  1790,  TRUMBULL  painted  a  full  length  portrait  of  him 
for  the  city  of  New  York.  Two  years  after,  he  painted  another  full 
length  of  Washington,  for  the  city  of  Charleston,  South  Carolina, 
and  a  third  was  purchased  by  the  Connecticut  Society  of  the  Cin 
cinnati,  and  presented  to  the  college  at  New  Haven.  This  latter 
picture  was  regarded  by  the  artist,  the  finest  portrait  of  General 
Washington,  in  existence.  It  represents  him  at  the  most  critical 
moment  of  his  life — on  the  evening  before  the  battle  of  Princeton, 
meditating  his  retreat  from  a  superior  enemy.  A  few  other  portraits 
were  painted  about  this  time,  but  the  years  1791-2-3  were  principally 
spent  in  painting  original  portraits  for  the  historical  pictures.  In  the 
accomplishment  of  his  great  design,  he  travelled  from  New  Hamp 
shire  to  Charleston,  South  Carolina.  The  heads  in  the  small  set  of 
pictures,  now  at  New  Haven,  were  all  painted  at  this  period  from  the 
living  men.  Having  accomplished  his  object  of  obtaining  authentic 
portraits  of  all  the  subjects  required,  he  again  left  his  native  land,  in 
the  capacity  of  private  secretary  to  Mr.  Jay,  the  envoy  extraordinary 
to  Great  Britain,  in  1794. 

Difficulties  had  existed  between  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain,  ever  since  the  war,  of  the  most  embarrassing  character. 


*  This  picture  was  sold  to  Sir  Francis  Baring,  for  five  hundred  guineas,  who  contracted 
for  the  purchase  of  a  series  of  pictures  of  American  subjects,  at  the  same  price ;  subject 
to  the  contingent  :y  of  the  approbation  of  the  higher  powers.  He  found  that  the  posses 
sion  of  the  proposed  pictures  would  give  offence  in  a  very  high  quarter,  and  he,  therefore 
retracted. 


JOHN  TRUMBULL. 

The  negotiations  ended  in  a  treaty,  signed  November.  1794.  The 
manner  in  which  Mr.  Jay  conducted  those  negotiations,  rendered  the 
duties  of  the  secretary  merely  nominal,  and  he  had  leisure  to  attend 
to  the  engraving  of  his  three  large  copper  plates,  at  that  time  in 
progress  in  London,  and  at  Stutgard,  in  Germany,  at  an  expense  of 
upwards  of  three  thousand  guineas.  After  the  treaty  was  signed, 
TRUMBULL  went  to  Paris,  and  he  soon  saw  from  the  condition  of  the 
continent  that  all  hope  of  profit  from  the  sale  of  engravings  was  at  an 
end ;  in  consequence  of  which,  he  gave  up  his  professional  pursuits, 
and  emharked  in  commerce,  until  August,  1796,  when  he  returned  to 
England,  and  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  that  month,  he  was  appointed 
the  fifth  commissioner  for  the  execution  of  the  seventh  article  oJ 
Mr.  Jay's  treaty.  This  placed  him  in  a  new  and  difficult  situation : 
the  British  commissioners.  Sir  John  Nicholl  and  John  Anstey,  Esq., 
and  the  two  Americans,  Mr.  Gore  and  Mr.  Pinckney,  were  all  dis 
tinguished  lawyers.  It  was  easy  to  foresee,  that  these  gentlemen 
would  frequently  differ  with  respect  to  the  rights  of  their  respective 
countries;  and  it  would  remain  with  the  fifth  commissioner  to  decide; 
an  arduous  duty  for  one  who  had  not  been  educated  for  the  legal 
profession,  and  it  placed  him  under  the  necessity  of  going  through 
a  course  of  reading,  on  the  law  of  nations  and  maritime  law. 

Multitudes  of  complaints  were  made  by  the  subjects  of  both 
nations,  and  were  carefully  examined  and  decisions  made  on  each 
separate  case,  on  its  own  merits.  The  commission  was  not  con 
cluded  until  the  beginning  of  the  year  1804.  The  number  of  canes 
examined  amounted  to  between  three  and  four  hundred ;  and  the 
amount  awarded  to  be  paid  by  the  British  government  exceeded  ten 
millions  of  dollars,  which  were  punctually  paid:  the  awards  against 
the  United  States  amounted  to  about  half  a  million.  In  all  cases  of 
importance,  written  opinions  were  recorded  ;  one  copy  of  which  is 
in  the  hands  of  Colonel  TRUMBULL.  The  principles  laid  down  and 
acted  upon  in  those  cases,  will  hereafter  form  an  important  part  of 
the  maritime  law  of  nations,  and  have  already  been  of  value  to 
many  individuals,  in  the  settlement  of  claims  against  the  Russian 
and  other  governments.  The  important  station  of  the  fifth  commis 
sioner,  who  was  the  umpire  between  parties  differing  on  almost  every 
point,  required  all  his  skill  to  harmonize  them,  and  it  may,  from  the 
nature  of  the  case,  be  concluded,  that  to  his  prudence  and  firmness 
the  favorable  results  are  to  be  mainly  attributed. 

In  June,  1804,  Colonel  TRUMBULL  returned  to  the  United  States, 
and  resumed  his  pencil  in  New  York.  After  a  residence  of  about 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

* 

four  years,  the  embarrassment  of  commerce  affected  his  profession  so 
deeply,  that  he  determined  to  seek  employment  abroad.  He  accord 
ingly  went  to  London,  where  he  painted  a  number  of  pictures,  with 
the  hope  of  attracting  some  attention,  but  so  unpopular  was  everything 
American,  that  he  failed  completely.  At  the  close  of  the  war,  he 
returned  for  the  last  time  to  New  York,  and  in  1816  he  was  engaged 
by  the  government  to  paint  the  four  large  pictures  now  in  the  rotunda 
of  the  capitol  at  Washington,  on  which  he  was  occupied  seven  years : 
after  which  he  was  principally  employed  in  finishing  his  former 
sketches,  and  in  painting  copies  of  his  national  pictures,  on  a  uniform 
scale  of  six  feet  by  nine. 

Finding  the  government  not  likely  to  order  the  complete  series,  nor 
any  individual  desirous  to  possess  them,  he  presented  the  entire  set  of 
the  original  paintings  to  Yale  College,  and  a  building  has  been  erected 
by  "  the  President  and  Fellows"  of  that  institution  for  their  preserva 
tion. 

He  was  first  chosen  President  of  the  American  Academy  of  the  Arts, 
in  1817,  and  continued  to  be  annually  reflected  to  that  office.  He 
died  in  the  city  of  New  York,  November  10,  1843,  in  the  eighty- 
eighth  year  of  his  age. 

The  high  character  of  Colonel  TRUMBULL  claims  more  than  we  can 
here  say  of  him.  He  was  one  of  the  last  models  of  a  by-gone  genera 
tion, — a  fine  example  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  old  school.  With  much 
of  dignity  and  courtesy  in  his  manners,  he  was  strictly  honorable, 
rigidly  abstemious,  frank  in  his  address,  and  proud  of  his  profession. 
From  early  youth  to  his  last  days  he  blended  himself  with  the  history 
of  his  country.  He  drew  for  that  country,  by  turns,  the  sword,  the 
pen,  and  the  pencil.  The  sword  and  the  pen  were  wielded  in  company 
with  others,  but  as  a  painter  of  American  history,  he  stood  almost 
alone,  and  even  though  many  may  rise  who  shall  prove  his  equals,  he 
inust  stand  to  all  time  as  the  first  among  them. 


</ 


4^ 


JOHN 


t  of  Nantes  con 


HJ»*.MI  a.  loieigu  sliore  \vi>  .-,  the  great-gj 

sub: 

sufiV 

His  son,  Augustus,  was  abroad  when  his  la  ice,  and 

shortly  afterwards  returned  without  being. aware  of  the  and 

iiight  of  his  friends.  He  soon  found  means  to  escape  from  the  risk 
and  danger  to  which  he  was  exposed  in  his  native  land,  and  em 
barked  for  America. 


in  the  enjoyment  ui 
until  1751,  when  he  died 

He  left  three  daughters,  au» 
married  to  Maryj  the  daughter  oi 
he  had  ten  children.     Peter  Jay  was  a  •. 
t^ss,  persevering  and  prudent;  so  that  Ib 
at  the  meridian  of  life,  he  had  acquirec 
retired  to  an  «.  ?  at  R 

Mis  wife  was  a 
Cultivated  mind.     ifc*u-   >     s    ^ -» 

eighth  child,  of 
;:v>re  particularly. 

JOHN  JAY  was  born  4 
*iber,  1745.     From  - 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

grammar  under  the  instruction  of  his  mother ;  and  at  eight  years  of 
age,  was  placed  at  the  boarding  school  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Stoope,  at 
New  Rochelle,  where  he  remained  two  years ;  after  which  he  had 
the  advantage  of  a  private  tutor  until  he  was  fourteen.  In  1760,  he 
entered  King's,  now  Columbia  college,  where  he  pursued  his  studies 
with  a  devoted  application  and  perseverance,  and  conducted  himself 
with  exemplary  propriety.  Some  defects,  which  had  probably  passed 
unnoticed  in  the  circle  of  his  own  family,  gave  him  no  little  trouble 
when  he  came  to  mingle  with  strangers.  His  articulation  was  indis 
tinct  ;  his  pronunciation  of  the  letter  L,  exposed  him  to  ridicule ; 
and  he  had  acquired  such  a  habit  of  rapid  reading,  that  he  could  with 
great  difficulty  be  understood.  These  imperfections  by  a  determined 
effort  he  corrected.  Before  he  had  completed  his  collegiate  course, 
he  had  decided  to  study  law,  and  therefore,  paid  particular  attention 
to  those  branches  which  he  considered  most  useful  in  his  future 
profession.  He  graduated  on  the  15th  of  May,  1764,  with  the 
highest  collegiate  honors,  and  soon  after  became  a  student  in  the 
office  of  Benjamin  Kissam,  Esq.,  a  lawyer  of  eminence.  The  late 
Lindley  Murray,  who  was  his  fellow  student  for  about  two  years, 
thus  speaks  of  him.  "  His  talents  and  virtues  gave  at  that  period 
pleasing  indications  of  future  eminence ;  he  was  remarkable  for 
strong  reasoning  powers,  comprehensive  views,  indefatigable  applica 
tion,  and  uncommon  firmness  of  mind.  With  these  qualifications, 
added  to  a  just  taste  in  literature  and  ample  stores  of  learning  and 
knowledge,  he  was  happily  prepared  to  enter  on  that  career  of  public 
virtue  by  which  he  was  afterward  honorably  distinguished  and  made 
instrumental  in  promoting  the  good  of  his  country. 

In  1768,  Mr.  JAY  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  immediately 
entered  on  an  extensive  and  profitable  practice.  He  married  in  1774, 
Sarah,  the  daughter  of  William  Livingston,  Esq.,  afterwards  gover 
nor  of  New  Jersey.  At  this  time  his  professional  reputation  was 
high,  and  his  prospects  bright,  but  the  political  horizon  was  darkened 
by  the  approaching  storm.  He  espoused  the  cause  of  his  country 
with  all  the  ardor  of  youth,  while  the  dignity  and  gravity  of  his 
deportment  gave  him  the  influence  of  riper  years.  Where  he  was 
known  he  was  confided  in,  and  the  reputation  of  his  talents  and 
sterling  qualities  went  before  him.  Thus  he  entered  the  broad  field 
of  politics,  not  to  work  his  way  to  eminence  by  slow  and  toilsome 
steps,  but  to  take  his  stand  at  once  among  the  sages  and  chosen 
fathers  of  the  people. 

The  first  news  of  the  Boston  Port  Bill  roused  the  patriots  of  New 


JOHN   JAY. 

York.  A  public  meeting  was  held  on  the  16th  of  May,  1774,  when 
a  committee  of  fifty  was  appointed  to  correspond  with  the  other 
colonies.  Mr.  JAY  was  one  of  this  committee,  and  also  of  a  sub 
committee  to  answer  the  letters  received.  He  was  afterwards  elected 
one  of  the  delegates  from  the  city  of  New  York  to  the  first  congress, 
which  convened  at  Philadelphia  on  the  5th  of  September,  1774. 
He  took  his  seat  on  the  first  day  of  the  session.  He  was  not  yet 
twenty-nine  years  of  age,  and  was  the  youngest  member  of  that  im 
mortal  band  of  patriots.  All  of  them  have  long  since  departed  ;  Mr. 
JAY  was  the  last. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  first  committee  appointed  by  congress, 
and  was  the  author  of  the  "  Address  to  the  People  of  Great  Britain," 
which  Mr.  Jefferson,  without  knowing  the  writer,  pronounced  "a 
production  of  the  finest  pen  in  America;"  an  opinion  which  it  justly 
deserved,  and  which  must  have  been  generally  conceded  by  his 
associates,  if  we  may  judge  by  the  numerous  labors  of  a  similar 
character  which  were  afterwards  awarded  to  him  by  congress,  and 
by  the  New  York  convention. 

The  address  to  the  inhabitants  of  Canada,  that  to  the  people  ol 
Ireland,  the  appeal  of  the  convention  of  New  York  to  their  consti 
tuents,  which  congress  earnestly  recommended  to  the  serious  perusal 
and  attention  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States.,  and  ordered  to 
be  printed  in  German,  at  the  expense  of  the  continent ;  and  the 
address  from  congress  to  their  constituents,  on  the  state  of  their 
financial  affairs,  were  among  his  subsequent  productions ;  and  they 
all  bear  the  stamp  of  his  genius,  and  evince  the  glowing  fervor  of  his 
patriotism. 

It  is  impossible  to  read  these  addresses  without  being  reminded 
of  the  wells  of  classic  learning,  which  supplied  the  rushing  current 
of  his  thoughts  with  a  style  and  language  of  never  failing  vigor  and 
attractive  beauty.  It  would  scarcely  be  extravagant  to  say,  they 
united  the  eloquence  of  Cicero  with  the  pious  patriotism  of  Macca 
beus  ;  it  is  certain  that  they  prove  their  author  to  have  been  deeply 
imbued  with  the  spirit  of  the  ancient  patriots,  and  not  less  those  of 
Palestine  than  of  Greece  and  Rome. 

After  Mr.  JAY'S  return  from  congress,  he  was  elected  by  the  citi 
zens  of  New  York,  a  member  of  a  "  committee  of  observation ;"  and 
soon  after  of  a  committee  of  association,  with  general  and  indefined 
powers,  which  they  exercised,  in  the  absence  of  all  legislative 
authority,  by  calling  on  the  citizens  to  arm  and  perfect  themselves 
in  military  discipline,  and  by  ordering  the  militia  to  patrol  the  streets 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

at  night  to  prevent  the  exportation  of  provisions.  The  provincial 
congress  assembled  in  May,  1775,  and  relieved  the  committee  of  their 
responsibility. 

When  the  second  congress  assembled  in  Philadelphia  on  the  10th 
of  May,  1 775,  Mr.  JAY  again  attended  as  a  delegate  from  New  York. 
The  battle  of  Lexington  had  occurred  in  the  recess,  and  it  was  now 
apparent  that  hostilities  were  inevitable.  An  army  was  therefore  to 
be  organized,  and  preparations  made  for  defence.  To  act  on  the 
defensive,  and  "  to  repel  force  by  force,"  was  the  utmost  extent  of 
hostility  which  this  congress  would  sanction ;  there  were  some  of 
the  members,  and  many  of  the  citizens,  who  were  not  prepared  to 
throw  off  their  allegiance  to  the  king,  at  least  not  until  some  further 
efforts  were  made  to  obtain  redress.  That  all  such  might  be  left 
without  excuse,  Mr.  JAY  advocated  another  petition  to  the  king, 
which  he  succeeded  in  carrying  against  a  strong  opposition.  It 
proved,  as  he  had  anticipated,  a  useless  appeal  to  the  monarch,  but 
added  numerous  friends  to  the  American  cause. 

The  exposed  situation  of  New  York,  induced  congress  to  recom 
mend  to  the  provincial  legislature  to  arm  and  train  the  militia ;  but 
unfortunately  that  province  was  distracted  by  a  much  larger  propor 
tion  of  tories^than  any  other  of  the  northern  colonies,  and  in  many 
instances  the  commissltm&4g»r  the  field  officers  were  declined.  In 
this  strait,  Mr.  JAY  accepted  of  a  colonel's  commission,  but  he  never 
acted  under  it,  as  his  presence  in  congress  was  deemed  of  more 
importance.  Until  the  spring  of  1776,  congress  had  restrained  their 
measures  within  the  bounds  of  forbearance,  and  had  kept  open  the 
door  of  reconciliation ;  it  then  became  apparent  that  the  British 
ministry  were  determined  to  listen  to  no  remonstrances,  nor  to  stop 
short  of  a  complete  subjugation  of  the  colonies.  Congress,  therefore, 
determined  to  abandon  their  hitherto  defensive  system,  and  to  em 
ploy  their  arms  in  annoying  their  enemies,  and  especially  to  assail 
their  commerce  by  privateers,  which  could  speedily  be  despatched 
from  numerous  ports.  This  movement  they  thought  necessary  to 
explain  and  justify,  and  the  task  of  preparing  a  suitable  declaration 
was  assigned  to  a  committee  of  which  Mr.  JAY  was  a  member.  In 
April,  1776,  while  attending  the  general  congress,  he  was  elected  to 
represent  the  city  and  county  of  New  York  in  the  colonial  congress, 
which  assembled  on  the  14th  of  May.  Subjects  of  the  highest  im 
portance  were  here  to  be  acted  on,  which  required  all  the  firmness  and 
wisdom  of  the  ablest  statesmen.  The  presence  of  Mr.  JAY  was 
required  He  attended  accordingly,  for  by  appointment  of  this  body 


JOHN  JAY. 

he  held  his  seat  in  congress,  and  not  by  an  election  of  the  people. 
The  convention  therefore  had  a  right  to  command  his  presence,  and 
he  was  directed  not  to  leave  them  until  further  orders.  He  was  not 
permitted  to  return  to  his  seat  in  the  continental  congress,  but  was 
constantly  and  actively  engaged  during  the  residue  of  the  year  in 
his  native  state,  and  was  thus  deprived  of  the  honor  of  being  in  his 
seat  when  the  declaration  of  independence  was  adopted.  Had  he 
been  there  he  would  have  advocated  it ;  for  although  he  has  been 
"  estimated"  to  have  "  kept  the  proceedings  and  preparations  a  year 
behind,"*  nothing  can  be  more  certain  than  that  he  was  himself  at 
least  a  year  in  advance  of  most  of  his  own  constituents. 

On  the  31st  of  May,  Mr.  JAY  reported  to  the  New  York  conven 
tion,  or  congress,  a  series  of  resolutions,  which  were  agreed  to,  calling 
on  the  people  to  elect  deputies  to  a  new  convention  with  power  to 
establish  a  form  of  government.  That  he  recommended  the  estab 
lishment  of  a  regular  government  in  the  state,  and  thereby  renounc 
ing  all  connexion  with  the  British  crown,  is  sufficiently  expressive 
of  his  views  on  the  subject  of  independence,  but  the  following  may 
also  be  added.  The  new  convention  with  power  to  establish  a  per 
manent  government  for  New  York,  met  at  Whiteplains  on  the  9th 
of  July,  and  on  the  same  day  the  declaration  of  independence  was 
received  from  congress.  This  important  document  was  immediately 
referred  to  a  committee  of  which  Mr.  JAY  was  chairman,  and  he 
almost  instanter  reported  the  following  resolution,  which  was  unani 
mously  adopted. 

"  Resolved,  unanimously,  That  the  reasons  assigned  by  the  conti 
nental  congress  for  declaring  these  united  colonies  free  and  inde 
pendent  states,  are  cogent  and  conclusive  ;  and  that  while  we  lament 
the  cruel  necessity  which  has  rendered  this  measure  unavoidable, 
we  approve  the  same,  and  will,  at  the  risk  of  our  lives  and  fortunes, 
join  with  the  other  colonies  in  supporting  it." 

A  few  days  after  this,  he  was  appointed  a  member  of  a  secret 
committee,  for  the  purpose  of  obstructing  the  navigation  of  the 
Hudson  river.  The  activity  and  zeal  which  he  displayed  on  this 
occasion  were  no  doubt  stimulated  by  the  unbounded  confidence 
which  he  could  not  but  feel  was  reposed  in  his  integrity  and  judg 
ment.  He  was  dispatched  by  the  committee  to  Connecticut  for  a 
supply  of  cannon  and  shot,  "  with  authority  to  impress  carriages. 


*  Jefferson's  Correspondence,  Letter  CLXXIV. 

5 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

teams,  sloops,  and  horses,  and  to  call  out  detachments  of  the  militia, 
and  generally  to  do,  or  cause  to  be  done,  at  his  discretion,  all  such 
matters  and  things  as  he  might  deem  necessary  or  expedient  to 
forward  and  complete  the  business  committed  to  his  care." 

He  was  successful  in  his  exertions,  and  in  a  short  time  had  twenty 
cannon  delivered  at  West  Poin-t. 

So  numerous  and  important  were  the  subjects  which  claimed  the 
attention  of  the  convention  at  this  eventful  period,  that  the  special 
business  of  their  appointment  could  not  be  taken  up  until  the  1st  of 
August,  when  a  committee  of  which,  as  usual,  Mr.  JAY  was  one,  was 
appointed  to  report  a  form  of  government ;  but  the  report  was  not 
perfected  until  the  following  year.  In  the  mean  time  the  convention 
exercised  all  the  powers  of  government  with  a  vigor  and  firmness, 
which,  when  the  circumstances  of  the  state  are  considered,  are  truly 
astonishing.  The  ability,  energy,  and  decision  of  Mr.  JAY,  kepi 
him  in  constant  employment,  so  that  we  may  safely  say,  whatever 
was  done,  he  was  among  the  foremost  and  most  industrious 
performers. 

He  prepared  the  draft  of  the  constitution  which,  with  several 
amendments,  was  adopted  on  the  20th  of  April,  1777,  but  having 
been  a  few  days  before  summoned  to  attend  his  dying  mother,  some 
articles  which  he  intended  to  offer  as  amendments  were  omitted  and 
some  additions  made,  of  which  he  did  not  approve.  The  state  of 
New  York  being  now  provided  with  a  constitution,  Mr.  JAY  received 
the  appointment  of  chief  justice  of  the  supreme  court,  and  as  the 
judges  of  that  court  were  by  the  new  constitution  restrained  from 
holding  any  other  office  than  that  of  a  delegate  to  congress  on  special 
occasions,  and  no  such  occasion  existing  at  that  time,  his  seat  in 
congress  was  vacated. 

Before  the  convention  dissolved  in  May,  1777,  they  appointed  a 
council  of  safety,  from  among  their  own  members,  to  administer  the 
government  until  the  legislature  should  be  organized.  As  one  of 
this  council,  Mr.  JAY  was  almost  constantly  occupied  until  the 
following  September.  On  the  9th  of  that  month,  the  first  term  of 
the  supreme  court  was  held  at  Kingston,  and  the  chief  justice  pre 
sided.  This  was  one  of  the  most  interesting  periods  of  his  official 
life :  the  government  under  which  the  people  had  been  born,  and 
which  their  education  and  habits  had  taught  them  to  venerate,  had 
just  been  abolished,  and  a  new  one  formed  on  new  principles,  in  the 
very  seat  of  war,  and  in  the  presence  of  victorious  enemies. 
Ticonderoga  had  fallen ;  one  British  army  was  approaching  from 


JOHN   JAY. 

the  north,  another  from  the  south ;  the  disaffected,  numerous  and 
active,  and  the  friends  of  their  country,  sinking  in  despair.  How 
worthy  is  the  patriot  of  our  admiration,  who,  at  such  a  crisis,  could 
retain  his  firmness,  and  with  an  unruffled  mind  and  undiverted  eye 
look  forward  to  the  end  of  his  labors,  with  the  full  assurance  of  the 
righteousness  of  the  cause,  and  of  the  favor  of  heaven.  Such  a 
patriot  was  JOHN  JAY. 

The  controversy  between  the  legislature  of  New  York,  and  the 
people  of  Yermont,  afforded  a  "special  occasion"  to  send  the  chief 
justice  as  a  delegate  to  congress.  He  accordingly  took  his  seat  in 
that  body  on  the  7th  of  December,  1778,  and  three  days  after,  was 
elected  president,  on  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Laurens.  This  office  he 
held  until  the  27th  of  September,  1779,  when  he  was  appointed 
minister  plenipotentiary  to  Spain.  To  obtain  the  acknowledgment 
of  the  independence  of  the  United  States,  to  negotiate  a  treaty  of 
alliance,  and  to  procure  pecuniary  aid,  were  the  objects  of  his 
mission. 

He  sailed  on  the  20th  of  October,  in  the  frigate  Confederacy, 
which  had  been  ordered  to  France,  to  carry  home  the  French 
minister,  Mr.  Gerard ;  but  on  the  7th  of  November,  the  ship  was 
dismasted  in  a  storm,  and  with  difficulty  reached  Martinico  on  the 
18th  of  December ;  on  the  28th,  Mr.  JAY  embarked  at  St.  Pierres  in 
the  French  frigate  Aurora,  and  arrived  at  Cadiz  on  the  22d  of 
January,  1780.  Having  communicated  his  commission  to  the 
Spanish  court,  he  was  invited  to  Madrid,  but  at  the  same  time  was 
given  to  understand,  that  the  formalities  of  an  official  reception  must 
be  deferred.  He  soon  found,  that  although  Spain  was  at  war  with 
our  common  enemy,  she  was  not  inclined  to  form  an  alliance  with 
us,  to  grant  us  aid,  or  even  to  acknowledge  our  independence,  unless 
on  conditions  which  he  was  little  inclined  to  comply  with.  The 
Spanish  minister  required  that  the  United  States  should  guaranty  to 
Spain  the  possession  of  Florida,  and  the  exclusive  right  of  naviga 
tion  on  the  Mississippi.  To  this,  Mr.  JAY,  who  looked  forward  to  the 
future  consequences  of  thus  shutting  up  the  mouth  of  one  of  our  most 
important  rivers,  would  not  consent.*  To  add  to  the  perplexity  of 


*  Dr.  Franklin  approved  of  Mr.  JAY'S  resistance  to  this  proposition,  observing,  "  poor 
as  we  are,  yet  as  I  know  we  shall  be  rich,  I  would  rather  agree  with  them  to  buy  at 
a  great  price,  the  whole  of  the  Mississippi,  than  sell  a  drop  of  its  waters.  A  neighbor 
might  as  well  ask  me  to  sell  niy  front  door." 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

his  situation,  he  learned,  soon  after  his  arrival  in  Spain,  that  congress 
had  adopted  a  singular  expedient  for  raising  money,  (on  the  presump 
tion  of  a  successful  negotiation,)  by  drawing  on  him  for  the  payment 
of  bills  to  the  amount  of  half  a  million  of  dollars  at  six  months  sight. 
These  bills  soon  began  to  be  presented  for  acceptance.  He 
obtained  the  promise  from  the  Spanish  government,  of  the  means  to 
meet  drafts  to  the  amount  of  about  thirteen  thousand  dollars,  and 
this  encouraged  him  to  hope  for  further  pecuniary  aid ;  but  he  was 
held  in  suspense  until  it  was  probably  supposed  that  his  embarrass 
ments  had  rendered  him  more  docile,  when  he  was  again  urged  to 
relinquish  the  claim  of  the  United  States,  to  the  navigation  of  the 
Mississippi.  This  he  again  declined,  and  he  was  then  informed 
that  Spain  would  advance  no  more  money.  Mr.  JAY  then  came  to 
the  resolution  of  becoming  personally  responsible,  by  accepting  all 
future  bills  which  might  be  presented,  and  thus  at  least  preserve  the 
credit  of  the  United  States,  for  the  next  six  months,  and  trust  to  a 
change  of  circumstances  for  a  disembarrassment.  By  the  assistance 
of  Dr.  Franklin,  who  was  then  in  France,  and  some  further  aid  from 
Spain,  all  the  bills  which  he  accepted  were  paid,  though  not  all  of 
them  as  they  became  due.  While  thus  laboring  to  overcome  the 
great  difficulties  of  his  mission,  he  had  the  mortification  to  learn  that 
congress  had  authorized  him  to  relinquish  the  right  of  navigating 
the  Mississippi  below  the  southern  boundary  of  the  United  States, 
According  to  these  new  instructions,  he  presented  the  plan  of  a 
treaty,  but  at  the  same  time  he  required,  on  his  own  responsibility, 
that  a  treaty  should  be  immediately  concluded,  or  that  the  United 
States  should  not  in  future  be  bound  by  the  offers  now  made.  This 
proposal  was  not  accepted,  and  the  negotiation  was  again  deferred. 

Early  in  the  summer  of  1782,  having  been  appointed  one  of  the 
commissioners  for  negotiating  a  peace  with  England,  Mr.  JAY 
proceeded  to  Paris,  where  Count  d'Aranda,  the  Spanish  ambassador, 
was  authorized  to  continue  negotiations  with  him;  but  these 
progressed  no  further  than  an  interchange  of  the  views  of  their 
respective  governments  in  relation  to  the  western  boundary  of  the 
United  States.  It  will  not  be  necessary  to  explain  the  instructions 
which  were  given  to  the  commissioners  of  the  United  States,  charged 
with  the  important  duty  of  terminating  the  war,  further  than  to  state 
generally,  that  they  were  such  as  left  the  terms  of  peace  under  the 
control  of  the  French  minister,  whose  advice  and  opinions  were  to 
govern  the  American  commissioners.  These  instructions  were 
particularly  displeasing  to  Mr.  JAY,  who  thought  the  dignity  of  his 


JOHN   JAY. 

country  compromised,  and  her  minister  degraded,  by  being  placed 
under  the  direction  of  a  foreign  power.  He  nevertheless  continued 
to  act  under  the  commission,  but  earnestly  requested  congress  to 
relieve  him  from  his  station.  What  may  have  been  the  motive  of 
the  desire  to  control  the  negotiations,  or  what  the  policy  of  the 
French  minister  in  the  advice  which  he  gave,  and  the  opinions 
declared  in  relation  to  the  American  claims  of  territorial  limits,  and 
the  fisheries,  we  shall  not  stop  to  inquire ;  the  motives  and  acts  of 
our  own  minister,  are  more  to  our  present  purpose,  and  these  were 
undoubtedly  of  the  highest  and  purest  character.  During  his 
residence  at  Madrid,  he  had  imbibed  suspicions  that  the  French 
court,  though  sincerely  desirous  to  render  us  independent  of  Great 
Britain,  were  no!  willing  to  favor  our  views  at  the  expense  of  Spain, 
or  even  to  see  us  acquire  such  power  and  importance  as  might  lead 
us  to  dispense  with  their  patronage,  and  to  pursue  our  own  objects 
without  regard  to  their  wishes  or  advice.  These  suspicions  were 
strengthened  after  his  arrival  at  the  French  capital,  by  the  influence 
employed  to  dissuade  him  and  his  colleagues  from  insisting  on 
several  points  which  they  deemed  of  high  importance,  and  which 
they  finally  obtained. 

His  enlarged  views  of  the  future  greatness  of  America,  his  respect 
for  her  honor,  and  his  firm  determination  never  to  be  an  instrument 
to  diminish  it,  led  him  to  disobey  the  instructions  which  degraded  him 
to  the  station  of  a  subaltern  agent  of  a  foreign  minister,  and  obedience 
to  which  would,  in  his  opinion,  endanger  the  interests,  and  tarnish 
the  glory  of  his  country. 

When  the  negotiation  commenced,  Mr.  JAY  and  Dr.  Franklin 
were  the  only  American  commissioners  present.  Mr.  Adams  and 
Mr.  Laurens  were  their  coadjutors ;  the  former  joined  them  on  the 
26th  of  October,  the  latter  on  the  29th  of  November.  In  July,  1782, 
Mr.  Richard  Oswald  was  authorized  by  the  king  of  Great  Britain, 
"to  treat,  consult  of,  and  conclude  a  peace  or  truce,  with  any  com 
missioner,  or  commissioners,  named  or  to  be  named  by  the  thirteen 
colonies  or  plantations  in  North  America,"  &c.  According  to  their 
instructions,  Dr.  Franklin  and  Mr.  JAY  consulted  Count  de  Ver- 
gennes,  and  he  advised  them  to  proceed  ;  but  Mr.  JAY  objected  to  treat 
with  the  British  commissioner,  unless  the  independence  of  his 
country  was  first  recognised,  and  he  took  upon  himself,"  without  the 
concurrence  of  Dr.  Franklin  or  the  knowledge  of  the  French 
minister,  to  assure  Mr.  Oswald  of  his  determination  not  to  enter  upon 
any  negotiation  in  which  he  should  be  recognised  only  as  a  com- 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

missioner  from  colonies.  The  British  cabinet  being  informed  of  this 
objection  replied,  that  it  was  intended  to  recognise  the  independence 
of  the  United  States  by  treaty,  bat  Mr.  JAY  continued  firm  in  his 
resolution,  and  at  length  Mr.  Oswald  received  a  commission  author 
izing  him  to  treat  with  the  "  commissioners  of  the  United  States 
of  America" 

The  negotiation  now  commenced,  and  in  a  few  weeks  the  pre 
liminary  articles  were  agreed  to  without  the  knowledge  of  the 
French  government,  and  were  signed  by  Mr.  Adams,  Dr.  Franklin, 
Mr.  JAY,  and  Mr.  Laurens,  on  the  30th  of  November,  but  were  not 
to  take  effect  until  peace  should  be  concluded  between  Great 
Britain  and  France.  By  these  articles  all  the  claims  of  the  United 
States  were  granted,  and  France  being  thus  deprived  of  all  pretext 
for  continuing  the  war,  a  preliminary  treaty  was  arranged  and 
signed  between  France  and  Great  Britain,  on  the  20th  of  January, 
1783;  congress  proclaimed  a  cessation  of  hostilities  on  the  llth  of 
April,  and  on  the  15th,  formally  ratified  the  treaty.  In  September, 
the  definitive  treaties  between  the  belligerent  powers  were  signed  at 
Paris,  and  the  American  definitive  treaty  was  ratified  by  congress 
on  the  14th  of  January,  1784. 

Mr.  JAY'S  health  had  suffered  severely  from  the  climate  of  Spain, 
and  his  subsequent  close  application  to  business  had  added  to  his 
indisposition.  By  the  advice  of  his  physician  he  visited  Bath,  and 
derived  essential  benefit  from  the  use  of  the  waters.  He  then 
returned  to  Paris,  and  being  freed  from  the  cares  of  public  duty, 
he  had  leisure  to  enjoy  the  polished  and  elevated  society  in  which 
he  moved.  But  his  heart's  desire  was  now  to  return  to  the  land 
of  his  nativity,  and  a  private  station.  He  declined  the  appoint 
ment  as  a  commissioner  to  negotiate  a  treaty  of  commerce  with 
Great  Britain,  and  having  heard  it  rumored  that  he  would  probably 
be  appointed  minister  to  England,  he  wrote  to  the  secretary  of  foreign 
affairs  earnestly  requesting  not  to  be  considered  a  candidate  for  that 
station.  As  soon,  therefore,  as  the  definitive  treaty  was  signed,  he 
prepared  to  return  home,  he  resigned  his  Spanish  mission,  and 
having  attended  to  the  settlement  of  his  accounts,  he  left  Paris  on 
the  16th  of  May,  1784,  and  arrived  in  New  York  on  the  24th  of 
July.  He  was  greeted  by  his  friends  and  fellow  citizens  in  the  most 
affectionate  and  grateful  manner,  and  learned  that  on  the  probability 
of  his  return  having  been  made  known  to  congress,  that  body  had 
elected  him  their  secretary  for  foreign  affairs,  and  soon  after  his 
arrival,  the  state  legislature  appointed  him  one  of  their  delegates  to 


JOHN   JAY. 

congress.  He  continued  at  the  head  of  the  department  of  foreign 
affairs,  and  in  the  faithful  discharge  of  its  laborious  duties  until  the 
organization  of  the  government  under  the  federal  constitution. 

It  is  generally  known  that  Mr.  JAY  used  extraordinary  exertions 
to  secure  the  adoption  of  that  instrument  by  the  state  of  New  York, 
where  the  question  was  held  for  some  time  in  suspense.  It  will  not 
be  improper  in  this  place  to  review  the  immediate  causes  of  those 
exertions,  with  a  sketch  of  his  opinions  and  views  of  passing  events. 
Mr.  JAY  held  the  office  of  foreign  secretary  a  little  over  four  years  ; 
during  that  time  all  the  powers  of  government  were  vested  in  con 
gress.  It  had  been  perceived  even  before  the  conclusion  of  the  war, 
that  this  body  possessed  in  fact  very  little  real  power,  and  when  the 
first  great  object  of  the  contest  had  been  secured,  every  succeeding 
occasion  for  the  exercise  of  sovereignty  betrayed-  the  imbecility  and 
insufficiency  of  the  government.  The  official  station  of  Mr.  JAY 
constantly  brought  this  embarrassing  fact  to  his  view  to  his  great 
mortification  and  regret.  His  letters  written  at  this  period  express 
his  wishes  distinctly.  His  own  words  will  best  illustrate  his  senti 
ments.  In  a  letter  to  J.  Lowell,  in  1785,  he  says;  "It  is  my  first 
wish  to  see  the  United  States  assume  and  merit  the  character  of  one 
great  nation  whose  territory  is  divided  into  different  states,  merely 
for  more  convenient  government.  In  another  to  John  Adams,  in 
1786,  he  repeats  the  sentiment  thus.  "  It  is  one  of  the  first  wishes 
of  my  heart  to  see  the  people  of  America  become  one  nation  in  every 
respect."  This  was  th<e  abstract  desire  induced  by  occasions  of 
frequent  occurrence.  The  most  prominent  of  these  were,  the  Alge- 
rine  war  in  1785,  when  congress  could  not  command  the  funds  to 
redeem  the  captives,  nor  to  build  a  navy  which  he  recommended. 
In  1786,  the  negotiations  with  Spain  were  renewed  in  relation  to  the 
disputed  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  below  the  southern  boundary 
of  the  states,  which  broke  off  unadjusted,  as  Spain  refused  to  grant 
the  right,  and  the  United  States  persisted  in  claiming  it.  Mr.  JAY 
was  an  honest  minister,  he  never  hesitated  to  express  his  opinions, 
and  on  this  occasion  he  remarked  to  congress,  that  if  they  insisted 
on  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  at  that  time,  "  the  Spanish  forts 
on  its  banks  would  be  strengthened,  and  that  nation  would  then  bid 
us  defiance  with  impunity,  at  least  until  the  American  nation  should 
become  more  really  and  truly  a  nation  than  it  is  at  present.  For 
unblessed  with  an  efficient  government,  destitute  of  funds,  and  with 
out  public  credit,  at  home  or  abroad,  we  should  be  obliged  to  wait 
in  patience  for  better  days,  or  plunge  into  an  unpopular  and  danger- 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

About  the  same  time  it  was  proposed  to  negotiate  a  loan 
in  Europe,  and  the  subject  being  referred  to  him,  he  reported  against 
it,  considering  it  improper  "because  the  federal  government  in  its 
present  state,  is  rather  paternal  and  persuasive  than  coercive  and 
efficient.  Congress  can  make  no  certain  dependence  on  the  states 
for  any  specific  sums  to  be  required  and  paid  at  any  given  periods, 
and  consequently  are  not  in  capacity  safely  to  pledge  their  honor 
and  faith  for  the  repayment  of  any  specific  sums  they  may  borrow." 
When,  therefore,  a  convention  was  appointed,  and  a  constitution 
formed  and  recommended  to  the  states  for  their  approval,  which 
promised,  if  not  all  he  desired,  at  least  as  much  as  could  reasonably 
be  expected,  he  was  better  prepared  than  most  men  in  the  country 
for  advocating  its  adoption.  Still,  it  was  for  some  time  doubtful 
whether  it  would  be  approved  or  not.  There  was  a  strong  party  in 
the  opposition,  some  of  whom  thought  the  old  confederation  with 
modifications  would  be  sufficient,  and  some  were  unwilling  to  relin 
quish  any  of  the  rights  of  the  states ;  thus  originated  two  great 
parties  in  the  country.  Mr.  JAY  was  not  a  member  of  the  conven 
tion  by  whom  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  was  framed,  but 
its  superiority  to  the  articles  of  confederation  was  too  obvious  to 
allow  of  any  hesitation  on  his  part :  he  accordingly  united  with  Mr. 
Madison  and  Colonel  Hamilton,  in  the  publication  of  a  series  of 
essays  in  explanation  and  commendation  of  the  document,  when  it 
was  submitted  to  the  people  for  a  final  decision.  These  essays,  col 
lected  in  the  well  known  work,  "the  Federalist,"  now  form  a  standard 
book  of  reference  on  most  great  constitutional  questions.  After  the 
second,  third,  fourth,  and  fifth  numbers  of  these  essays  were  written 
by  Mr.  JAY,  he  was  for  some  time  prevented  from  a  continuation  by 
an  unfortunate  occurrence.  Some  young  physicians,  after  violating 
the  grave  for  subjects  of  anatomical  study,  had  the  folly  to  exhibit 
parts  of  limbs  at  their  window  to  the  passengers  in  the  street.  A 
serious  riot  was  the  consequence.  The  magistrates  of  the  city  of 
New  York,  to  protect  the  physicians  from  violence,  shut  them  up  in 
prison,  but  the  mob,  determined  not  to  be  disappointed  in  their 
vengeance,  assembled  for  the  purpose  of  executing  summary  punish 
ment  on  the  culprits.  Mr.  JAY,  and  other  gentlemen,  armed  arid 
placed  themselves  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Hamilton,  to  pre 
vent  the  outrage.  This  party  was  attacke'd  by  the  rioters  with 
stones,  one  of  which  struck  Mr.  JAY  on  the  temple,  and  nearly 
deprived  him  of  life.  He  however  recovered,  but  only  in  time  to 
write  the  sixty-fourth  number  of  the  Federalist.  He  also  published 


JOHN   JAY. 

an  address  to  the  people  of  the  state  of  New  York,  in  favor  of  the 
adoption  of  the  constitution,  and  when  the  legislature  called  a  con 
vention  to  decide  the  question,  Mr.  JAY  was  elected  one  of  the 
delegates  from  thi  city.  The  convention  consisted  of  fifty-seven 
members,  forty-six  of  whom  were  understood  at  the  time  to  be  anti- 
federalists  ;  nevertheless,  the  constitution  was  adopted  ;  but  only  by 
a  majority  of  three  votes. 

Mr.  JAY  received  the  very  gratifying  testimony  of  the  respect  and 
confidence  of  President  Washington,  who,  on  the  organization  of  the 
departments,  requested  him  to  select  any  office  he  might  prefer.  He 
did  so,  and  was  accordingly  appointed  the  first  chief  justice  of  the 
United  States. 

In  April,  1794,  he  was  appointed  envoy  extraordinary  to  Great 
Britain,  to  negotiate  a  treaty  for  the  regulation  of  commerce,  and  a 
settlement  of  the  disputes  between  the  two  countries,  in  relation  to 
the  infractions  of  the  treaty  of  peace.  On  the  19th  of  November 
following,  he  concluded  and  signed  with  Lord  Grenville  a  treaty  of 
amity,  commerce,  and  navigation,  between  his  Britannic  majesty  and 
the  United  States.  This  treaty  gave  great  offence  to  France,  and 
produced  a  fearful  excitement  in  the  United  States.  Forty  years 
have  since  passed  away,  and  at  no  subsequent  period  has  the  stability 
of  the  government  been  placed  in  more  imminent  peril.  The  judg 
ment  of  Washington,  however,  approved  the  treaty,  and  his  firmness 
carried  the  country  through  the  crisis,  but  the  minister  who  nego 
tiated  the  treaty  was  assailed  and  denounced  by  a  numerous  and 
powerful  antagonist  party.  For  this  Mr.  JAY  was  prepared,  as  his 
letters  written  at  that  time  declare.  "  I  carried  with  me  to  Europe," 
said  he  to  Edmund  Randolph,  "  and  I  brought  back  from  thence  a 
fixed  opinion,  that  no  treaty  whatever  with  Great  Britain  would 
escape  a  partial,  but  violent  opposition.  I  did  clearly  discern  that 
any  such  treaty  would  be  used  as  a  pretext  for  attacks  on  the 
government,  and  for  attempts  to  diminish  the  confidence  which  the 
great  body  of  the  people  reposed  in  it."  In  another  letter,  addressed 
to  General  Henry  Lee,  after  expressing  a  sentiment  similar  to  the 
above,  he  said,  "  apprised  of  what  had  happened  in  Greece  and  other 
countries,  I  was  warned  by  the  experience  of  ages  not  to  calculate 
on  the  constancy  of  any  popular  tide,  whether  favorable  or  adverse, 
which  erroneous  or  transitory  impressions  might  occasion.  The 
treaty  is  as  it  is,  and  the  time  will  certainly  come,  when  it  will 
universally  receive  exactly  that  degree  of  commendation  or  censure 
which,  to  candid  and  enlightened  minds,  it  shall  appear  to  deserve.'' 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

Mr.  JAY  arrived  at  New  York,  in  May,  1795,  and  found  that  he  had 
been  elected  governor  of  the  state.  He  felt  bound  by  the  circumstances 
tinder  which  he  had  been  elected,  to  accept  the  honor  conferred,  and 
accordingly  resigned  the  office  of  chief  justice.  He  held  the  station 
of  governor  until  1801,  when,  having  declined  to  be  considered  again 
a  candidate,  he  withdrew  from  public  life  to  the  peaceful  shades  of 
his  paternal  estate  at  Bedford. 

President  Adams  attempted  to  retain  his  services  for  the  public,  by 
nominating  him  to  the  senate  for  his  former  seat  on  the  bench  of  the 
supreme  court,  but  he  had  deliberately  made  up  his  mind  to  retire, 
and  declined  the  honor,  on  the  ground  "  that  his  duty  did  not 
require  him  to  accept  it."  The  public  services  of  Mr.  JAY  fill  a 
broad  space  in  the  history  of  his  country,  but  the  value  of  them  has 
been  variously  estimated  amidst  the  zealous  strife  of  contending 
political  parties,  and  it  is  perhaps  even  yet  too  soon  to  attempt  an 
adjustment  of  the  balance.  We  shall  therefore  be  content  to  leave 
it  to  the  calm  judgment  of  our  readers. 

That  Mr.  JAY,  at  the  age  of  fifty-six,  should  have  abandoned  all 
participation  in  public  affairs,  excited  some  surprise  at  the  time  j  but 
a  view  of  his  private  character  and  motives  affords  a  sufficient 
explanation. 

Through  all  his  life,  he  was  influenced  mainly  by  a  sense  of  duty. 
At  no  period  the  creature  of  impulse,  whatever  he  undertook  to  do, 
was  the  result  of  cool,  dispassionate  conviction,  so  that  whatever 
was  the  labor  or  the  difficulty  of  the  performance,  he  pressed  for 
ward  regardless  of  the  consequences.  So  long  as  he  believed  it  to 
be  his  duty  to  serve  the  public,  he  remained  at  his  post,  and  having 
"  borne  the  heat  and  burden  of  the  day,"  until  he  saw  the  institutions 
of  his  country,  which  he  had  assisted  to  rear,  effective  and  pros 
perous,  he  naturally  turned  towards  a  station  and  mode  of  life  that 
from  early  youth  had  been  his  desire.  Firm  in  his  political  princi 
ples,  and  decidedly  attached  to  one  of  the  great  parties  of  his  day, 
he  was  yet  tolerant  of  the  opinions  of  others ;  he  never  deserted  his 
friends,  nor  sought  to  purchase  an  opponent ;  he  never  asked  a  vote 
nor  an  office,  nor  did  he  ever  remove  an  officer  for  his  political  views. 
Being  therefore  neither  factious,  ambitious,  nor  anxious  for  distinc 
tion,  he  was  willing,  when  he  saw  the  administration  of  the  govern 
ment  passing  out  of  the  hands  of  his  political  friends,  to  give  a  fair 
trial  to  their  successors. 

In  1802,  he  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  his  excellent  and  beloved 

14 


JOHN   JAY. 

wife,  which  left  a  breach  in  the  family  circle  at  Bedford,  that  was 
long  and  painfully  felt. 

Mr.  JAY'S  life  exhibited  a  beautiful  illustration  of  the  power  of 
religion.  It  was  never  laid  aside  for  convenience,  nor  brought  for 
ward  on  special  occasions  for  effect,  but  it  was  a  pervading  influence 
equally  acknowledged  and  obeyed  from  day  to  day,  in  public  and  in 
private.  In  the  very  storm  and  tempest  of  political  passion  —  and 
there  is  none  more  reckless — his  private  character  was  always 
respected  by  his  antagonists.  By  his  friends  he  was  venerated.  In 
his  retirement,  he  devoted  much  of  his  time  to  study  and  reflection ; 
and  while  he  was  prudent,  economical  and  diligent  in  the  improve 
ment  of  his  estate,  he  lived  in  constant  preparation  for  "another  and 
a  better  world." 

He  was  a  plain  republican  in  his  manners ;  warm  and  enduring 
in  his  friendships,  and  liberal  in  his  benevolence.  He  was  a  member 
of  most  of  the  great  religious  associations  of  his  time,  and  succeeded 
Elias  Boudinot,  as  president  of  the  American  Bible  Society. 

For  several  years  before  his  death,  Mr.  JAY'S  health  had  gradually 
declined.  In  1827,  he  was  dangerously  ill,  so  that  his  recovery  was 
not  expected.  When  apprised  of  his  danger  by  his  son,  he  received 
the  information  without  any  apparent  emotion,  but  in  the  course  of 
the  day  he  conversed  with  cheerfulness  and  animation. 

On  being  urged  to  tell  his  children  on  what  his  hopes  were 
founded,  and  whence  he  drew  his  consolation,  he  replied,  "  they  have 
THE  BOOK."  From  this  attack,  however,  he  recovered,  but  con 
tinued  feeble  and  gradually  declining  until  the  14th  of  May,  1829, 
when  he  was  suddenly  seized  with  palsy,  which  almost  deprived  him 
of  the  power  of  speech,  though  his  mind  remained  perfect  to  the  last. 
He  departed  on  the  17th  of  the  same  month,  in  the  eighty-fourth 
year  of  his  age. 

The  public  acts  of  Mr.  JAY  form  an  important  part  of  our  early 
national  history.  A  memoir  of  his  life  by  his  son,  William  Jay,  with 
selections  from  his  correspondence  and  miscellaneous  papers,  has  long 
since  been  published  in  two  volumes,  which  we  hope  will  find  a  place 
in  the  library  of  every  American,  who  designs  to  set  before  his  child 
ren  a  bright  example  of  public  and  private  virtue. 

"  It  would  be  difficult,"  says  a  good  writer,  "  to  point  out  a  cha 
racter  in  modern  times  more  nearly  allied  to  the  Aristides  drawn  by 
Plutarch,  than  that  of  JOHN  JAY.  Justice,  stern  and  inflexible,  holds 
the  first  place  in  his  exalted  mind."  Yet  Plutarch  admits,  "that 
although  in  all  his  own  private  concerns,  and  in  those  of  his  fellow- 

VOL.2.-E 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

citizens,  Aristides  was  inflexibly  just,  in  affairs  of  state  he  did  many 
things,  according  to  the  exigency  of  the  case,  to  serve  his  country, 
which  seemed  often  to  have  need  of  the  assistance  of  .injustice."  In 
this  respect  the  resemblance  fails  between  the  ancient  and  the  modern, 
JOHN  JAY  never  departed  from  the  strictest  rule  of  right ;  and  the 
patriot  and  the  Christian  may  equally  point  to  him  with  admiration 
and  applause. 

It  has  been  well  said  by  an  able  writer  in  the  North  American 
Review,  "  Little  need  be  said  of  the  public  character  of  a  man,  who 
possessed  the  unlimited  confidence  of  Washington,  and  of  whom  John 
Adams  said,  'when  my  confidence  in  Mr.  JAY  shall  cease,  I  must  give 
up  the  cause  of  confidence  and  renounce  it  with  all  men.'  He  must 
have  been  no  common  man,  who,  at  the  early  age  of  thirty,  could  take 
his  station  by  the  side  of  a  band  of  patriots  and  statesman,  inferior  in 
foresight,  prudence,  wisdom,  and  practical  ability,  to  none  in  any  for 
mer  age,  and  establish  at  once  a  reputation,  which  went  on  increasing 
as  he  advanced  in  years.  There  is  a  prevailing  impression,  that  the 
habits  of  investigation,  acquired  in  the  practice  of  the  law,  are  apt  to 
disqualify  the  greatest  minds  for  the  comprehensive  views  which  are 
essential  in  those  who  administer  the  government  of  nations.  Such 
certainly  was  not  the  case  with  Mr.  JAY,  and  as  little  could  it  be 
affirmed  of  those  with  whom  he  was  associated.  Into  all  the  stations 
he  was  called  upon  to  fill,  he  carried  with  him  those  excellent  moral 
qualities,  which  gave  dignity  and  influence  to  his  private  character, 
and  these,  united  as  they  were  with  exalted  intellectual  gifts,  made 
him  as  much  respected  as  he  was  eminent  in  all." 

16 


JOHN     EAGER     HOWARD. 


IK  the  history  of  the  world  there  is  no  instance,  where  love  of  coun 
try  has  been  exhibited  in  bolder  deeds,  than  by  those  who  carried  us 
through  the  struggle  tor  independence.  The  battles  which  were 
fought  ei;  is  true,  compared  \vi- 

mense  armies  more  recent  warfare ;  but 

then  the  stake  -j- of  such  magnitude, 

that  the  present  political  condition  of  the  civilized  world  can  be 
traced  up  to  its  being  won.  The  narratives  of  battles  fought  by 
armies  of  fifty  or  a  hundred  thousand  men  upon  a  side,  confuse 
the  reader  by  their  number  and  perplexing  generalities ;  but  we  view 
the  struggle  of  smaller  U'wli<*s.  with  &*me  portion  of  the  intense 
interest  with  which  we  wouki  r*v  '.-very 

thrust  of  the  lance  or  stroke  vt  iho  >:wocd  would  b*  visible  with 
painful  distinctness.  In  ihe  hu.  ecan 

trace  the  movement  oi  ahiK»:  <:v*;iy  «,.«.« p&  .  au4  jfefeough  much 
controversy  has  arisen  within  the  last  few  year*  respecting  many 
of  them,  yet  none  has  existed  with  regard  to  the  conspicuous  pan 
acted  by  the  subject  of  this  memoir. 

JOHN  EAGER  HOWAKO  was  born  on  the  4th  of  Juno. 
Baltimore  county,  and  state  of  Maryland.     His  grandfather,  ,• 
Howard,  an  Englishman  by  hirtb,  having  when  very  young  U?U  h»* 
father's  house,  in  the  vicinity  oi  Maiiri?»-sM,  to  j«.>ia  the  *nuy  of 
the  Duke  of  York,  subsequently  -1 
moutirs  insurrection,  was  afteru 
displeasure,  and  came  to  seek  his  1 
the  yt'iLT  16&5--6.     Ife  obtained  .t 
county,  upon  which  Coloiici  i! 
in  the  family,)  an«l  n; 
lately  emigrated 
tody,  and  father  of  ;.h«  subj<  < 

r,  whose  estate  adjon: 
of  Baltimore.     The  Eager.*.-  afui 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

the  charter  to  Lord  Baltimore  ;  but  the  records  afford  little  informa 
tion  prior  to  1658,  when  the  estate  near  Baltimore  was  purchased. 
During  the  interval  of  a  century  that  elapsed  between  the  emigration 
of  these  early  settlers  and  the  revolution,  the  ancestors  of  Colonel 
HOWARD  appear  to  have  pursued  the  quiet  occupation  of  cultivating 
their  farms,  without  participating  in  the  political  concerns  of  the 
colony.  At  least,  no  traces  can  now  be  discovered  of  their  activity. 
JOHN  EAGER  HOWARD,  not  educated  for  any  particular  profession, 
was  induced  to  take  up  arms  by  the  circumstances  of  his  country. 
Upon  his  expressing  a  desire  to  take  a  part  in  the  approaching 
struggle,  one  of  the  committee  of  safety  offered  to  procure  for  him 
the  commission  of  colonel ;  but  he  expressed  his  distrust  of  being 
able  to  perform  the  duties  appertaining  to  so  high  a  rank,  and  pre 
ferred  the  humbler  station  of  a  captain.  Such  a  commission  was 
accordingly  obtained,  in  one  of  those  bodies  of  militia  termed  flying 
camps,  in  the  regiment  commanded  by  Colonel  J.  Carvil  Hall.  The 
commission  was  made  dependant  upon  his  ability  to  recruit  thirty 
men. 

Such  was  the  esteem  in  which  Captain  HOWARD  was  held  in  his 
neighborhood,  that  he  enlisted  a  company  in  two  days,  and  marched 
immediately  to  join  the  army.  He  was  present  at  the  battle  of 
White  Plains,  and  continued  to  serve  until  December,  1776,  when 
his  corps  was  dismissed.  In  the  preceding  September,  congress  had 
wisely  resolved  to  raise  eighty-eight  battalions  to  serve  during  the 
war,  the  officers  of  which  were  to  be  commissioned  by  congress ; 
and  in  the  organization  of  the  number  allotted  to  Maryland, 
Captain  HOWARD  was  requested  to  accept  the  situation  of  major. 
The  winter  of  1776-7  was  industriously  devoted  to  raising  troops 
upon  the  continental  establishment,  and  early  in  April  we  find  him 
marching  with  part  of  his  regiment  to  join  the  army  at  Rocky  Hill, 
near  Princeton,  with  which  he  continued  until  the  British  crossed 
over  to  Staten  Island,  on  the  30th  of  June,  when  he  received 
information  of  the  death  of  his  father ;  upon  which  Colonel  Hall 
sent  him  home  to  superintend  the  recruiting  service.  In  the 
following  September  he  rejoined  the  army,  a  few  days  after  the 
battle  of  Brandy  wine,  and  at  the  battle  of  Germantown  gave 
conspicuous  proofs  of  that  cool  courage  which  afterwards  so  greatly 
distinguished  him.  As  the  incidents  of  this  action  have  become  the 
theme  of  discussion,  in  consequence  of  Judge  Johnson's  account  of  it 
in  his  life  of  Greene,  and  as  this  is  not  the  appropriate  occasion  to 
-eview  the  controversy,  even  if  sufficient  materials  were  at  hand, 

2 


JOHN  EAGER  HOWARD. 

we  shall  confine  our  remarks  to  the  personal  share  and  observation 
which  Major  HOWARD  experienced.  He  was  then  major  of  the 
fourth  regiment,  commanded  by  Colonel  Hall ;  and  in  consequence 
of  the  latter's  being  disabled  early  in  the  action,  and  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Samuel  Smith  having  been  detached  to  Fort  Mifflin,  Major 
HOWARD  assumed  the  command  of  the  regiment,  which  formed  a 
part  of  Sullivan's  division,  upon  the  extreme  left  when  displayed,  and 
upon  the  west  side  of  the  Germantown  road.  In  the  attack  these 
troops  encountered  the  British  corps  of  light  infantry,  which  had 
been  posted  some  distance  in  advance  of  the  main  body,  and  after  a 
sharp  contest,  pursued  them  through  their  encampment,  Major 
HOWARD  passing  with  his  regiment  amidst  the  standing  tents. 
Continuing  upon  the  west  side  of  the  road,  and  passing  Chew's 
house  without  any  serious  injury  from  the  fire  of  the  British  troops 
then  occupying  it,  the  Maryland  troops  (almost  exclusively  compos 
ing  Sullivan's  division)  advanced  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  farther 
cowards  the  main  body  of  the  British  army,  where  they  maintained 
their  position  until  the  unsuccessful  attack  upon  the  house  caused 
a  retreat.  Upon  again  passing  this  temporary  fortress,  (the  unfor 
tunate  character  of  which  was  amply  redeemed  as  far  as  Major 
HOWARD  was  personally  concerned,  by  his  finding  it,  a  few  years 
afterwards,  the  summer  residence  of  the  lady  whom  he  married,) 
the  garrison  sallied  out  and  attacked  their  retiring  foe ;  but  a  return 
of  the  fire  killed  the  officer  who  commanded  the  party,  and  no 
farther  molestation  ensued.  It  was  the  opinion  of  Colonel  HOWARD, 
that  instead  of  Musgrave's  retreat  into  the  house  being  a  prompt 
movement,  the  hasty  resolution  of  military  genius  stimulated  by  the 
pressure  of  instant  danger,  it  was  only  the  execution  of  a  plan  pre 
viously  digested  and  arranged  in  case  of  attack.  After  the  marriage 
of  Colonel  HOWARD,  he  was  repeatedly  shown,  both  by  the  family 
and  neighbors,  the  ground  where  Musgrave  had  been  encamped  for 
some  time  previous  to  the  battle,  and  which,  from  its  vicinity  to  the 
house,  was  probably  selected  for  the  purpose.  So  firmly  was  he 
persuaded  of  this,  that  he  did  not  believe  Musgrave  to  have  been 
with  the  light  infantry  when  they  were  defeated,  as  above  stated. 
The  occupancy  of  the  house  and  consequent  halt  of  a  portion  of 
the  American  troops,  certainly  exercised  a  most  pernicious  influence 
upon  the  result  of  the  battle,  although  it  could  not  have  been  the  only 
cause  of  failure,  because  a  body  of  troops  (Muhlenberg  and  Scott's 
brigades)  passed  it  upon  the  eastern,  whilst  the  Marylanders  were 
passing  it  upon  the  western  side.  Those  upon  the  east  penetrated 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

so  far  into  the  British  lines,  that  the  gallant  ninth  Virginia  regiment 
was  assailed  in  front  and  upon  both  flanks.  Mathews  surrendered, 
but  nine  bayonet  wounds  bore  evidence  that  he  had  resisted  to  the 
very  last  extremity.  If  the  question  should  occur,  why  the  concert 
of  operations  was  not  renewed  after  so  many  corps  had  passed 
Chew's  house,  the  answer  is  given  by  referring  to  the  dense  fog 
which  covered  the  earth,  so  that  the,  positions  of  the  various  divi 
sions  could  not  be  ascertained.  General  Charles  Cotesworth  Pinck- 
ney  described  the  fog  as  follows  :  — "  the  only  way  we  knew  of  the 
enemy's  being  drawn  up  in  opposition  to  us  was,  by  their  fire  and 
whistling  of  their  balls ;  and  it  was  some  time  after  they  retreated 
before  we  knew  of  it,  and  that  only  by  our  not  hearing  the  whist 
ling  of  their  balls,  and  seeing  no  flashes  in  our  front." 

Colonel  HOWARD  said  of  it,  "  whilst  we  were  halted,  the  British 
army  were  formed  in  the  school  house  lane,  directly  in  our  front, 
six  or  seven  hundred  yards  from  us ;  but  owing  to  the  denseness 
of  the  fog,  which  had  much  increased  after  the  action  commenced, 
we  could  not  see  them."  The  impossibility  of  knowing  where 
the  various  divisions  of  the  army  were  at  any  given  moment, 
and  of  transmitting  orders  to  them,  even  if  their  positions  had  been 
known,  caused  the  battle  to  become  a  disjointed  series  of  detached 
encounters,  instead  of  a  concentrated  effort  to  support  a  fixed  plan. 

From  this  period  Colonel  HOWARD  remained  with  the  army,  and 
was  present  at  the  battle  of  Monmouth,  although  the  particular 
share  that  he  bore  in  it  cannot  now  be  ascertained. 

In  April,  1780,  the  Maryland  and  Delaware  troops,  amounting  to 
fourteen  hundred  infantry,  were  detached  from  the  army  to  effect  a 
diversion  to  relieve  the  city  of  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  then 
besieged  by  the  British  under  Clinton.  On  the  third  of  May  these 
troops  embarked  upon  Elk  river,  at  the  head  of  the  Chesapeake 
Bay,  but  were  not  able  to  reach  Petersburg,  in  Virginia,  until  June. 
As  Charleston  capitulated  on  the  twelfth  of  May,  they  could  not 
possibly  have  reached  the  upper  part  of  Carolina  in  time  to  have 
produced  any  relief  to  that  important  post,  even  if  the  facilities  of 
transportation  in  the  bay  had  then  been  as  great  as  they  now  are  ; 
but  it  may  be  interesting  to  compare  the  tedious  progress  of  those 
troops  with  the  rapid  movements  effected  under  our  present  improved 
communications.  In  the  summer  of  1832  an  Indian  war  broke  out 
upon  the  upper  waters  of  the  Mississippi,  and  a  portion  of  the  United 
States  army  was  transported  thither  from  Old  Point  Comfort,  in  Vir 
ginia.  Their  route  led  them  over  a  part  of  the  same  course,  revers- 


JOHN   EAGER  HOWARD. 

ing  the  direction,  which  had  been  followed  in  1780  ;  but  instead  of 
occupying  a  month  in  traversing  the  waters  of  the  Chesapeake,  as 
had  been  necessarily  the  case  with  the  continental  army,  they  had 
in  that  space  of  time  reached  the  far  distant  regions  of  the  west,  in 
the  state  of  Illinois.  Twenty-four  hours  would  now  be  sufficient  to 
move  fourteen  hundred  troops  from  the  head  of  Elk  river  to  Peters 
burg,  an  operation  that  in  1780  employed  a  month.  When  Wash 
ington  moved  upon  Cornwallis,  it  required  four  weeks  to  transport 
his  army  from  the  Hudson  to  James  river,  and  even  then  we  must 
admire  his  celerity ;  now  one  week  would  be  more  than  enough. 

On  the  first  of  June,  1779,  Major  HOWARD  had  received  the  com 
mission  of  "lieutenant-colonel  of  the  fifth  Maryland  regiment,  in 
the  army  of  the  United  States,  to  take  rank  as  such  from  the 
llth  day  of  March,  1778;"  and  he  availed  himself  of  the  vicinity 
of  the  troops  to  Baltimore  to  arrange  his  affairs  ;  as,  to  use  his  own 
language,  "our  march  to  the  southward  seemed  to  be  a  forlorn  hope, 
and  my  return  very  uncertain."  He  sold  some  property,  which  he 
converted  into  half  joes,  leaving  fifty  in  the  hands  of  a  friend,  as  a 
provision  in  case  of  his  being  taken  prisoner. 

Upon  the  arrival  of  the  Baron  de  Kalb  at  Petersburg,  he  received 
intelligence  of  the  fall  of  Charleston ;  but  wisely  judging  that  the 
presence  of  a  body  of  regular  troops  in  the  south  would  sustain  the 
fortitude  of  the  militia,  he  pressed  on  rapidly  to  Deep  Run,  in  North 
Carolina,  where  he  was  obliged  to  halt  for  want  of  provisions.  On 
the  25th  July  General  Gates  arrived  in  camp  and  took  command  of 
the  army,  whilst  the  baron  contented  himself  with  the  Maryland 
division.  Flushed  with  the  victory  and  honor  obtained  at  Saratoga, 
Gates  overlooked  all  considerations  flowing  from  the  ill  condition  of 
his  stores  and  barren  nature  of  the  country  before  him,  and  marched 
forward  in  quest  of  his  enemy.  Blinded  by  the  luxuriance  of  the 
laurels  upon  his  brow,  and  heedless  of  the  advice  of  those  who 
knew  the  country,  he  pressed  on,  and  supported  his  troops  upon 
such  supplies  of  lean  beef  as  could  be  caught  in  the  woods ;  and 
which,  when  boiled  with  unripe  corn,  constituted  their  chief  diet. 
Some  of  the  officers  directed  the  meat  to  be  made  into  soup,  and 
with  a  refinement  of  luxury  that  would  amaze  the  cooks  of  the  pre 
sent  day,  contrived  to  render  it  palatable  by  emptying  into  it  the 
contents  of  the  bags  which  held  their  hair  powder.  It  is  but  justice 
to  mention,  however,  that  they  were  not  confined  exclusively  to  this 
meagre  diet,  but  occasionally  enlarged  their  bill  of  fare  by  the  very 
agreeable  addition  of  green  peaches. 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

Whilst  Gates  was  making  a  nisfht  march  to  attack  the  British 

o  o 

army,  commanded,  as  he  thought,  by  Lord  Rawdon,  it  so  happened 
that  they  were  marching  to  attack  him.  Cornwallis  had  arrived 
from  Charleston  with  a  strong  reinforcement  on  the  14th,  and 
resolved  to  assault  Gates  in  his  camp.  On  the  night  of  the  fifteenth 
the  light  troops  encountered  each  other  in  the  woods  to  their  mutual 
astonishment.  Then,  for  the  first  time,  Gates  learned  that  Corn 
wallis  was  his  antagonist,  and  that  the  enemy  were  equal,  if  not 
superior  to  himself,  in  numbers.  A  retreat  was  impossible,  and 
nothing  remained  but  to  form  the  line  of  battle.  Nothing  is  more 
trying  to  militia  than  to  await  an  attack.  Drawn  up  in  a  line,  and 
having  nothing  external  to  engage  their  attention,  they  turn  their 
thoughts  inward.  The  approaching  battle  is  viewed  through  the 
magnifying  mist  of  a  heated  imagination,  and  armed  with  unknown 
terrors,  particularly  if  it  is  their  first  fight.  -An  old  soldier  thinks  of 
the  chances  of  escape  from  death,  if  he  thinks  at  all  ;  a  young  one. 
of  the  danger  of  being  killed.  Reflection  is  of  service  to  the  first, 
but  ruinous  to  the  latter.  In  the  darkness  of  night  these  circum 
stances  act  with  double  force.  If  to  these  considerations  we  add 
the  reception  of  the  disheartening  intelligence  that  Cornwallis  had 
reinforced  the  British  army,  it  is  easy  to  account  for  the  bad  conduct 
of  the  militia  in  the  battle  of  Camden.  They  gave  way  early  in 
the  action,  and  thereby  threw  the  pressure  of  the  whole  of  the  Bri 
tish  troops  entirely  upon  the  two  Maryland  brigades,  aided  by  a  very 
few  other  gallant  corps.  One  of  these  brigades  (in  which  was 
Lieutenant-Colonel  HOWARD)  was  drawn  up  in  a  line  with  the  rest 
of  the  army ;  the  other  was  a  short  distance  in  the  rear,  with  its 
right  flank  behind  the  left  flank  of  its  colleague.  In  this  position 
they  maintained  the  contest  obstinately  against  superior  numbers, 
and  the  front  brigade  at  one  time  made  a  partially  successful 
attempt  to  use  the  bayonet.  Lieutenant-Colonel  HOWARD  drove  the 
corps  in  front  of  him  out  of  line ;  and  if  the  left  wing  of  the  Ame 
rican  army  had  been  able  to  occupy  the  attention  of  the  British 
right,  the  fate  of  the  day  would  probably  have  been  propitious.  But, 
attacked  in  front  and  flank  by  a  simultaneous  charge  of  horse  and 
foot,  the  continental  troops  were  overpowered  and  driven  into  the 
swamps,  hitherto  considered  impenetrable.  Colonel  HOWARD  suc 
ceeded  in  keeping  a  few  of  his  men  together,  and  being  joined  occa 
sionally  by  other  officers  and  men,  reached  Charlotte,  about  sixty 
miles  off,  on  the  19th.  The  writer  of  this  article  once  asked  him 


JOHN  EAGER  HOWARD. 

what  he  found  during  those  three  days  for  his  men  and  himself  to 
eat ;  his  brief  reply  was,  "  some  peaches." 

In  October  a  small  supply  of  coarse  clothing  arrived  in  camp,  and 
was  appropriated  in  the  first  instance  to  the  equipment  of  four  com 
panies  of  light  infantry,  which  were  formed  into  a  battalion  and 
placed  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  HOWARD,  to  take 
a  position  nearer  to  the  enemy.  Early  in  December  Greene  arrived, 
and  the  command  of  the  southern  army  was  transferred  to  him  with 
due  solemnity.  Soon  afterwards,  a  detachment  was  placed  under 
Morgan  to  act  farther  in  the  west ;  and  in  it  we  find  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  HOWARD,  having  under  him  four  hundred  continental  in 
fantry,  and  two  companies  of  Virginia  militia  under  Captains  Trip- 
iett  and  Tate.  With  these  troops  and  Washington's  cavalry,  together 
with  a  considerable  body  of  militia,  Morgan  fought  the  celebrated 
battle  of  the  Cowpens,  on  the  17th  January,  1781.  It  is  not  our 
purpose,  either  on  this  or  any  occasion,  to  encroach  upon  the  pro 
vince  of  the  historian,  by  attempting  to  give  a  particular  description 
of  any  of  the  southern  battles,  or  to  embark  in  a  controversy  with 
any  author  ;  but  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  contradict  the  account 
of  this  affair,  as  it  is  recorded  in  Johnson's  life  of  Greene ;  and  we 
rest  upon  the  manuscript  or  printed  statements  of  Colonel  HOWARD 
himself,  whose  retentive  memory  and  scrupulous  accuracy  render 
his  authority  unquestionable.  It  was  HOWARD,  and  not  Morgan,  who 
gave  the  order  to  the  right  company  to  change  its  front  and  protect 
his  flank ;  and  it  was  HOWARD  who  afterwards  ordered  the  charge 
with  the  bayonet  upon  his  own  responsibility.  We  shall  use  his  own 
language.  "  Seeing  my  right  flank  was  exposed  to  the  enemy,  I 
attempted  to  change  the  front  of  Wallace's  company;  (Virginia 
regulars ;)  in  doing  it  some  confusion  ensued,  and  first  a  part  and 
then  the  whole  of  the  company  commenced  a  retreat.  The  officers 
along  the  line  seeing  this,  and  supposing  that  orders  had  been  given 
for  a  retreat,  faced  their  men  about  and  moved  off.  Morgan,  who 
had  mostly  been  with  the  militia,  quickly  rode  up  to  me  and  ex 
pressed  apprehensions  of  the  event ;  but  I  soon  removed  his  fears  by 
pointing  to  the  line,  and  observing  that  men  were  not  beaten  who 
retreated  in  that  order.  He  then  ordered  me  to  keep  with  the  men, 
until  we  came  to  the  rising  ground  near  Washington's  horse ;  and 
he  rode  forward  to  fix  on  the  most  proper  place  for  us  to  halt  and 
face  about.  In  a  minute  we  had  a  perfect  line.  The  enemy  were 
now  very  near  us.  Our  men  commenced  a  very  destructive  fire, 
which  they  little  expected,  and  a  few  rounds  occasioned  oreat  dis- 

^ 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

order  in  their  ranks.  While  in  this  confusion  I  ordered  a  charge 
with  the  bayonet,  which  order  was  obeyed  with  great  alacrity.  As 
the  line  advanced,  I  observed  their  artillery  a  short  distance  in  front, 
and  called  to  Captain  Ewing,  who  was  near  me,  to  take  it.  Captain 
Anderson  (now  General  Anderson  of  Montgomery  county,  Maryland) 
hearing  the  order,  also  pushed  for  the  same  object ;  and  both  being 
emulous  for  the  prize,  kept  pace  until  near  the  first  piece,  when 
Anderson,  by  putting  the  end  of  his  spontoon  forward  into  the 
ground,  made  a  long  leap,  which  brought  him  upon  the  gun  and 
gave  him  the  honor  of  the  prize.  My  attention  was  now  drawn  to 
an  altercation  of  some  of  the  men  with  an  artillery-man,  who  ap 
peared  to  make  it  a  point  of  honor  not  to  surrender  his  match.  The 
men,  provoked  by  his  obstinacy,  would  have  bayoneted  him  on  the 
spot,  had  I  not  interfered  and  desired  them  to  spare  the  life  of  so 
brave  a  man.  He  then  surrendered  his  match.  In  the  pursuit  I  was 
led  to  the  right,  in  among  the  seventy-first,  who  were  broken  into 
squads ;  arid  as  I  called  to  them  to  surrender,  they  laid  down  their 
arms  and  the  officers  delivered  up  their  swords.  Captain  Duncan- 
son,  of  the  seventy-first  grenadiers,  gave  me  his  sword  and  stood  by 
me.  Upon  getting  on  my  horse,  I  found  him  pulling  at  my  saddle, 
and  he  nearly  unhorsed  me.  I  expressed  my  displeasure,  and  asked 
him  what  he  was  about.  The  explanation,  was,  that  they  had 
orders  to  give  no  quarter,  and  they  did  not  expect  any ;  and  as  my 
men  were  coming  up.  he  was  afraid  they  would  use  him  ill.  I  ad 
mitted  his  excuse,  and  put  him  into  the  care  of  a  sergeant.  I  had 
messages  from  him  some  years  afterwards,  expressing  his  obligation 
for  my  having  saved  his  life." 

At  one  time  Colonel  HOWARD  had  in  his  hand  seven  swords  of 
officers  who  had  surrendered  to  him  personally,  whilst  he  was  "  in 
among  the  seventy-first." 

The  moral  effect  of  this  victory  was  felt  throughout  the  whole 
country.  Congress  voted  medals  to  Morgan,  Washington,  and  HOW 
ARD,  descriptive  of  their  conduct  upon  that  memorable  day. 

The  action  at  the  Cowpens  is  believed  to  have  been  the  first  in 
which  the  American  troops  fairly  conquered  the  British,  with  the 
bayonet,  in  the  open  field;  and  no  higher  compliment  could  be  paid 
to  those  engaged  in  it,  than  the  subsequent  conduct  of  Greene  in 
ordering  the  Maryland  line  to'  use  the  bayonet  in  every  battle. 

In  the  extreme  fatigue  and  danger  incurred  by  the  rear  guard  in 
protecting  the  retreat  of  Greene  into  Virginia,  the  subject  of  this 
memoir  bore  his  full  share.  After  refreshing  and  reinforcing  his 


JOHN  EAGER  HOWARD. 

army,  that  enterprising  general  resumed  offensive  operations,  and 
marched  into  Carolina  to  tight  his  enemy.     The  battle  of  Guilford 
ensued,  in  which  HOWARD  again  exhibited  the  discipline  of  his  regi 
ment,  and  won  additional  honor  for  himself.    Having  the  advantage 
of  one  of  his  manuscript  notes,  we  shall  use  his  own  language. 
uTlie  second  regiment  was  at  some  distance  to  the  left  of  the  first, 
in  the  cleared  ground,  with  its  left  flank  thrown  back,  so  as  to  form 
a  line  almost  at  right  angles  with  the  first  regiment.     The  guards, 
after  they  had  defeated  General  Stephens,  pushed  into  the  cleared 
ground  and  run  at  the  second  regiment,  which  immediately  gave 
way ;  owing,  I  believe,  in  a  great  measure,  to  the  want  of  oflicers, 
and  having  so  many  new  recruits.     The  guards  pursued  them  into 
our  rear,  where  they  took  two  pieces  of  artillery.     This  transaction 
was  in  a  great  measure  concealed  from  the  first  regiment  by  the 
wood,  and  unevenness  of  the  ground.     But  my  station  being  on  the 
left  of  the  first  regiment,  and  next  the  cleared  ground,  Captain  Gib 
son,  deputy  adjutant-general,  rode  to  me,  and  informed  me  that  a 
party  of  the  enemy,  inferior  in  number  to  us,  were  pushing  through 
the  cleared  ground  and  into  our  rear,  and  that  if  we  would  face 
about  and  charge  them,  we  might  take  them.     We  had  been  for 
some  time  engaged  with  a  part  of  Webster's  brigade,  though  not 
hard  pressed,  and  at  that  moment  their  fire  had  slackened.     I  rode 
to  Gunby  and  gave  him  the  information.     He  did  not  hesitate  to 
order  the  regiment  to  face  about,  and  we  were  immediately  engaged 
with  the  guards.     Our  men  gave  them  some  well  directed  fires,  and 
we  then  advanced  and  continued  firing.    At  this  time  Gunby's  horse 
was  shot,  and  when  I  met  him  some  time  after,  he  informed  me  that 
his  horse  fell  upon  him,  and  it  was  with  difficulty  he  extricated  him 
self.     Major  Anderson  was  killed  about  this  time.     As  we  advanced 
I  observed  Washington's  horse,  and  as  their  movements  were  quicker 
than  ours,  they  first  charged  and  broke  the  enemy.    My  men  followed 
very  quickly,  and  we  passed  through  the  guards,  many  of  whom 
had  been  knocked  down  by  the  horse  without  being  much  hurt. 
We  took  some  prisoners,  and  the  whole  were  in  our  power.     After 
passing  through  the  guards,  as  before  stated,  I  found  myself  in  the 
cleared  ground,  and  saw  the  seventy-first  regiment  near  the  court 
house,  and  other  columns  of  the  enemy  appearing  in  different  direc 
tions.     Washington's  horse  having  gone  off,  I  found  it  necessary  to 
retire,  which  I  did  leisurely;  but  many  of  the  guards  who  were  lying 
on  the  ground,  and  who  we  supposed  were  wounded,  got  up  and  fired 
at  us  as  we  retired." 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

Such  is  the  modest  narrative  of  one  of  the  most  spirited  charges 
in  the  whole  war. 

After  the  battle  of  Hobkirk's  Hill,  which  we  must  pass  over. 
Colonel  Gunby  returned  to  his  native  state,  to  superintend  the 
recruiting  service,  and  left  Colonel  HOWARD  in  command  of  the 
regiment,  from  which  he  was  transferred  to  the  second  at  the  death 
of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Ford,  who  never  recovered  from  the  wound 
received  in  that  battle.  At  Eutaw,  therefore,  he  had  the  command 
of  the  second  regiment.  When  the  Maryland  line  "  swept  the  field 
with  their  bayonets,"  it  fell  to  the  lot  of  Colonel  HOWARD  to  encoun 
ter  the  Buffs,  whose  resistance  was  so  stubborn,  that  (according  to 
Lee)  many  individuals  of  the  Marylanders  and  of  the  Buffs  were 
mutually  transfixed  with  each  other's  bayonets.  That  the  contest 
was  obstinate,  is  evident  from  the  loss  sustained.  Colonel  HOWARD 
says  in  a  letter,  "nearly  one  half  my  men  were  killed  or  wounded, 
and  I  had  seven  officers  out  of  twelve  disabled ;  four  killed,  and 
three  severely  wounded."  Towards  the  conclusion  of  the  battle  he 
himself  received  a  ball  in  the  left  shoulder,  which,  passing  entirely 
through,  came  out  under  the  shoulder  blade,  and  disabled  him.  In 
a  letter  to  General  Smallwood,  written  a  few  days  after  the  battle, 
Greene  says,  "  nothing  could  exceed  the  gallantry  of  the  Maryland 
line.  Colonels  Williams,  HOWARD,  and  all  the  officers,  exhibited 
acts  of  uncommon  bravery ;  and  the  free  use  of  the  bayonet,  by  this 
and  some  other  corps,  gave  us  the  victory." 

Immediately  after  the  battle  Greene  retreated  about  seven  miles, 
and  so  long  a  time  elapsed  before  Colonel  HOWARD  could  have  his 
wound  dressed,  that  the  surgeon,  after  bestowing  upon  him  all  the 
attention  that  a  sincere  friendship  inspired,  whispered  to  the  attend 
ant  to  be  vigilant  during  the  night ;  for  if  the  wound  began  to  bleed 
again,  the  patient  would  probably  expire  before  assistance  could 
reach  him,  unless  it  was  instantly  rendered.  It  is  mentioned  as  an 
anecdote  to  illustrate  the  self-relying  character  of  Colonel  HOWARD, 
that  when  the  surgeon  visited  him  in  the  morning,  he  was  much 
surprised  to  learn  from  his  patient,  that  he  had  overheard  the  cau 
tion  on  the  preceding  night,  and  determined  to  remain  awake  him 
self,  which  he  had  accordingly  done.  As  soon  as  he  was  able  to  be 
moved,  he  was  carried  to  his  native  state,  accompanied  by  the  most 
affectionate  commendations  of  General  Greene,  who  observed  in 
one  of  his  letters,  that  Colonel  HOWARD  was  as  good  an  officer  as 
the  world  afforded,  and  deserved  a  statue  of  gold,  no  less  than  the 
Roman  and  Grecian  heroes. 


JOHN   EAGER  HOWARD. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  war  Colonel  HOWARD  retired  to  his 
patrimonial  estate,  and  soon  after  married  Margaret  Chew,  daughter 
of  Benjamin  Chew,  of  Philadelphia ;  a  lady  whose  courteous  man 
ners  and  elegant  hospitality  will  long  be  remembered  by  the  society 
of  Baltimore,  of  which,  as  well  as  of  the  best  company  throughout 
the  country,  her  house  was  the  gay  and  easy  resort.  In  November, 
1788,  he  was  chosen  the  governor  of  Maryland,  which  post  he  filled 
for  the  constitutional  term  of  three  years,  during  which  period  the 
federal  government  was  adopted  and  put  into  operation,  receiving  all 
the  support  that  the  influence  of  the  governor  could  bestow.  In 
May,  1794,  he  was  appointed  a  major-general  of  militia,  but  declined 
accepting  the  commission.  In  November,  1795,  General  Washing 
ton  invited  him  to  accept  a  seat  in  his  cabinet,  and  take  charge  of 
the  war  department,  but  the  offer  was  respectfully  declined.  "  Had 
your  inclination,"  said  Washington  in  reply,  "  and  private  pursuits 
permitted  you  to  take  the  office  that  was  offered  to  you,  it  would 
have  been  a  very  pleasing  circumstance  to  me,  and  I  am  persuaded, 
as  I  observed  to  you  on  a  former  occasion,  a  very  acceptable  one  to 
the  public.  But  the  reasons  which  you  have  assigned  for  not  doing 
so  carry  conviction  along  with  them,  and  must,  however  reluctantly, 
be  submitted  to." 

At  the  time  of  this  offer  he  was  a  member  of  the  senate  in  the 
legislature  of  Maryland,  from  which  he  was  transferred,  in  1796,  to 
the  senate  of  the  United  States,  being  elected  first  to  fill  a  vacancy 
occasioned  by  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Potts,  and  afterwards  for  the 
full  term  of  service,  which  expired  on  the  4th  of  March,  1803.  In 
1798,  when  it  was  probable  that  Washington  would  have  to  take  the 
field  again,  HOWARD  was  one  of  the  few  officers  whom  he  insisted 
upon  naming,  and  whom  he  intended  to  bring  to  his  aid  as  one  of  the 
brigadier-generals.  But  the  threatening  storm  passed  away,  and  in 
1803  he  finally  withdrew  from  public  life,  devoting  himself  to  his 
own  private  concerns,  intermingled  with  the  exercise  of  a  liberal  but 
unostentatious  hospitality,  and  a  participation  in  all  leading  measures 
for  the  advancement  of  the  city  of  Baltimore. 

After  the  lapse  of  a  few  years,  the  sound  of  the  trumpet  and  drum 
broke  in  upon  his  retirement.  The  capture  of  Washington,  in  1814, 
produced  an  excitement  in  the  adjacent  portion  of  the  country,  which 
can  better  be  remembered  or  imagined  than  described.  Amidst  the 
din  of  preparation  for  resistance  to  the  meditated  attack  upon  Balti 
more,  a  suggestion  was  made  that  it  would  be  wise  to  capitulate. 
As  soon  as  it  reached  Colonel  HOWARD,  the  spirit  of  the  old  soldier 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

burst  forth  in  the  following  indignant  denunciation.  "  I  have"  said 
he,  "  as  much  property  at  stake  as  most  persons,  and  I  have  four  sons 
in  the  field.  But  sooner  would  I  see  my  sons  weltering  in  their  blood, 
and  my  property  reduced  to  ashes,  than  so  far  disgrace  the  country." 

The  committee  of  safety,  of  which  he  was  a  prominent  member, 
left  no  effort  untried  to  prepare  for  defence,  and  the  result  is  recorded 
upon  one  of  the  most  glorious  pages  of  our  history.  A  troop  of  aged 
men  was  organized  to  render  such  services  as  their  infirmities  would 
allow,  and  Colonel  HOWARD  was,  by  unanimous  consent,  placed  at 
its  head.  Although  this  corps  was  intended  to  act  only  within  the 
city,  yet  he  had  resolved  to  be  present  at  the  battle  to  offer  his  advice 
or  assistance ;  but  it  occurred  on  the  day  preceding  that  on  which 
he  expected  it  to  take  place. 

In  1821  he  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  his  eldest  daughter,  and  in 
1822,  his  eldest  son,  John  Eager  Howard  junior,  whose  character 
had  secured  the  warm  affection  of  a  numerous  circle  of  friends,  and 
who  had  already  filled,  with  universal  approbation,  some  of  the  prin 
cipal  offices  in  the  state.  In  1824  he  had  the  farther  misfortune  to 
lose  his  wife,  arid  his  own  health  began  to  decline.  The  effect  of 
his  early  wound  had  always  been  felt  upon  his  taking  the  slightest 
cold ;  but  now  his  constitution  suffered  a  gradual  decay.  In  Octo 
ber,  1827,  a  slight  exposure  brought  on  a  severe  cold,  which  the  most 
active  treatment  could  not  subdue.  After  a  few  days'  illness,  which 
he  bore  with  inflexible  and  characteristic  fortitude,  he  expired  on  the 
L2th,  without  a  struggle  or  a  gro-an. 

His  funeral  was  attended  by  the  public  authorities  of  the  city,  and 
an  immense  concourse  of  people.  A  numerous  detachment  of  the 
military  also  escorted  the  remains  of  the  soldier  and  patriot  to  their 
place  of  rest.  One  of  the  newspapers  spoke  of  it  in  the  following 
manner.  "We  do  not  remember  ever  to  have  witnessed  a  greater 
concourse  than  that  which  composed  the  funeral  procession,  and 
lined  the  streets  along  which  it  passed.  A  mournful  interest  ap 
peared  to  pervade  all  ranks  of  the  community,  who  flocked  from 
every  quarter  to  take  a  farewell  glimpse  of  the  remains  of  one,  who 
had  possessed,  whilst  living,  their  unbounded  respect.  The  military 
appeared  in  fine  order,  and  the  hollow  beat  of  their  muffled  drums 
told  that  a  soldier  had  gone  to  his  rest."  Mr.  Adams  happened  to  be 
in  Baltimore  on  the  day  of  the  funeral,  which  he  attended,  after 
sending  to  the  family  the  following  beautiful  and  appropriate  letter. 

"  The  President  of  the  United  States  has  received  with  deep  con 
cern  the  communication  from  the  family  of  the  late  Colonel  How- 


JOHN  EAGER  HOWARD. 

ARD,  informing  him  of  the  decease  of  their  lamented  parent.  Sym 
pathizing  with  their  affliction  upon  the  departure  of  their  illustrious 
relative,  he  only  shares  in  the  sentiment  of  universal  regret  with 
which  the  offspring  of  the  revolutionary  age,  throughout  the  union, 
will  learn  the  close  of  a  life,  eminently  adorned  with  the  honors  of 
the  cause  of  independence,  and  not  less  distinguished  in  the  career  of 
peaceful  magistracy  in  later  time.  He  will  take  a  sincere  though 
melancholy  satisfaction  in  uniting  with  his  fellow  citizens  in  attend 
ing  the  funeral  obsequies  of  him,  whose  name  has  been  long  and 
will  ever  remain,  enrolled  among  those  of  the  benefactors  of  his 
country. 

"Baltimore,  15th  October,  1827." 

At  the  ensuing  session  of  the  legislature  of  Maryland,  resolutions 
were  adopted  of  a  highly  complimentary  character,  and  directing 
the  portrait  of  the  deceased  to  be  placed  in  the  chamber  of  the  house 
of  delegates.  From  the  scene  of  his  youthful  exploits  also,  the  voice 
of  the  house  of  representatives  was  heard  declaring,  "  that  it  was 
with  feelings  of  profound  sorrow  and  regret,  that  South  Carolina 
received  the  melancholy  intelligence  of  the  death  of  Colonel  JOHN 
EAGER  HOWARD  of  Maryland,  and  that  the  state  of  South  Carolina 
can  never  forget  the  distinguished  services  of  the  deceased." 

The  beauty  of  the  thought  tempts  us  to  make  the  following  extract 
from  an  obituary  notice  written  by  the  most  celebrated  dignitary  of 
the  Catholic  church.  "  One  after  another,  the  stars  of  our  revolu 
tionary  firmament  are  sinking  below  the  horizon.  They  rise  in 
another  hemisphere  as  they  set  to  us  ;  and  the  youth  of  other  times 
will  gaze  upon  their  lustre,  as  he  learns  their  names  and  marks 
them  clustering  into  constellations,  which  will  recall  to  his  mind 
some  interesting  event  of  our  period  of  struggle." 

The  character  of  Colonel  HOWARD  partook  of  the  strength  of  the 
school  in  which  it  was  framed.  His  first  lessons,  received  in  the 
thoughtful  infancy  of  our  country,  had  imbued  his  mind  with  the 
nervous  and  unadorned  wisdom  of  the  time.  -  His  manhood,  hard 
ened  in  the  stormy  season  of  the  revolution,  was  taught  patience  by 
privation,  and  virtue  by  common  example.  By  his  worth  he  had 
won  the  painful  station  of  a  champion  who  was  not  to  be  spared 
from  the  field  of  action,  and  his  sense  of  duty  was  too  peremptory  to 
permit  him  to  refuse  the  constant  requisitions  of  this  perilous  honor. 
In  the  camp,  therefore,  amidst  the  accidents  of  war,  his  moral  con 
stitution  acquired  the  hardihood,  and  his  arm  the  prowess  of  ancient 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

chivalry.  He  reached  in  safety  the  close  of  that  anxious  struggle, 
with  a  mind  braced  by  calamity  and  familiarized  to  great  achieve 
ments.  It  threw  him  on  the  world  in  the  vigor  of  his  days,  gifted 
with  the  qualities  of  a  provident,  brave,  temperate,  and  inflexible 
patriot.  The  characteristics  thus  acquired,  never  faded  in  subse 
quent  life.  Pursued  by  an  unusual  share  of  honor  and  regard  as  a 
founder  of  the  liberties  of  his  country,  he  was  never  beguiled  by  the 
homage  it  attracted.  A  fortune  that  might  be  deemed  princely,  was 
never  used  to  increase  the  lustre  of  his  station  or  the  weight  of  his 
authority,  but  was  profusely  dispensed  in  public  benefactions  and 
acts  of  munificence.  With  the  allurements  of  power  continually 
soliciting  his  ambition,  he  never  threw  himself  into  the  public  service 
but  when  the  emergencies  of  the  state  left  him  no  privilege  of  refu 
sal.  Under  such  conditions  only,  he  administered  the  grave  duties 
of  office,  with  an  integrity,  wisdom,  and  justice,  that  gave  to  his 
opinions  an  authentic  and  absolute  sway.  Amidst  the  frantic  agita 
tions  of  party,  which  for  a  series  of  years  convulsed  the  nation,  he, 
almost  alone  in  his  generation,  won  the  universal  confidence.  The 
most  inveterate  popular  prejudices  seemed  to  yield  to  the  affectionate 
conviction  of  his  impregnable  honesty,  his  unblenching  love  of 
country,  and  that  personal  independence  which  neither  party  zeal 
could  warp  from  its  course,  nor  passion  subvert,  nor  faction  alarm ; 
and  in  their  bitterest  exacerbations,  his  fellow  citizens  of  all  ranks 
turned  towards  him  as  to  a  fountain  of  undefiled  patriotism.  In 
private  life  he  was  distinguished  for  the  amenity  of  his  manners,  his 
hospitality,  and  his  extensive  and  useful  knowledge.  He  possessed  a 
memory  uncommonly  minute,  and  a  love  of  information  that  never 
sank  under  the  labor  of  acquisition.  These  faculties  rendered  him, 
perhaps,  the  most  accurate  repository  of  the  history  of  his  own  time, 
in  this  or  any  other  country.  His  habits  of  life  were  contemplative, 
cautious,  scrupulously  just,  and  regulated  by  the  strictest  method. 

Few  men  have  enjoyed  a  more  enviable  lot; — his  youth  dis 
tinguished  in  the  field,  his  age  in  the  council,  and  every  period 
solaced  by  the  attachment  of  friends.  Affluent  in  fortune,  as  rich 
in  public  regard,  and  blessed  in  his  domestic  and  personal  associa 
tions,  he  has  glided  away  from  the  small  band  of  his  compatriots,  as 
full  of  honors  as  of  years.  The  example  of  such  a  citizen  is  a  legacy 
to  his  country,  of  more  worth  than  the  precepts  of  an  age. 


GILBERT 


IN  this   bi< 


afford 

portrait  painter  died    i 

is  disputed,  and  contending  towns  claim  the  h 

extraordinary  genius;  to  Dr.  Waterhouse  we  owe  certainty  or, 

head  ;  a  dd  not  have  been  accu- 


vity 


rateh  •  pai 

only 
the  y 
Ber 

Britain  to  th- 
who  had  not 
term  emigrants,  i» 
came  not  in  conn 
Their  unassuming  appeaj 
reserve,  seemed  to  place  tl 
travellers.     ri 

yet  clannish.     Sorrie  settled  in 
some  in  Now  York ;  bur  a  U-WAUT  p 
sant  and  h< 
Cullender,  "  the  Garden  01  America.' 

ssional  men ;  among  these  wa 

cian  of  the  Boerhft«veaa  sch« 

and  manners  were  • 

is  of  Rhode  lsl;«  '^   ;' 


er  has  inscribed   "  ' 

/fttah-  ••'.  u  • 

o  bis   r  !•  nd. 

the  !;;.  if  is  the 


•  its  first  histori 
jl  of  the  emigpt 
Dr.  Thomas  ]\: 
»J  ,;    b«?:,  howr 

?v>    ifh**  pb 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

could  not  make  his  way  among  them  as  a  practitioner,  and  there 
fore  he  looked  round  for  some  other  mode  of  genteel  subsistence; 
and  he  hit  upon  that  of  cultivating  tobacco  and  making  snuff,  to 
supply  the  place  of  the  great  quantity  that  was  every  year  imported 
from  Glasgow ;  but  he  could  find  no  man  in  the  country  who  he 
thought  was  able  to  make  him  a  snuff  mill.  He  therefore  wrote  to 
Scotland,  and  obtained  a  competent  mill-wright,  by  the  name  of 
Gilbert  Stuart. 

Dr.  Moffat  selected  for  his  mill  seat  a  proper  stream  in  that  part  of 
the  colony  of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  plantations  which  bore 
and  still  bears  the  Indian  name  of  Narraganset,  once  occupied  by 
the  warlike  tribe  of  the  Pequot  Indians,  made  familiar  to  us  by 
the  intensely  interesting  romance  of  our  novelist,  James  Fenimore 
Cooper,  under  the  title  of  the  "  Last  of  the  Mohicans." 

There,  Gilbert  Stuart,  the  father  of  the  great  painter,  erected  the 
first  snuff  mill  in  New  England,  and  there  he  manufactured  that 
strange  article  of  luxury.  He  soon  after  built  a  house,  and  married 
a  very  handsome  woman,  daughter  of  a  Mr.  Anthony,  a  substantial 
farmer ;  and  of  this  happy  couple,  at  Narraganset,  was  born  GIL 
BERT  CHARLES  STUART  ;  so  christened,  but  the  middle  name,  which 
betokens  the  Jacobite  principles  of  his  father,  was  early  dropped  by 
the  son,  and  never  used  in  his  days  of  notoriety ;  indeed,  but  for  the 
signatures  of  letters  addressed  to  his  friend  Waterhouse  in  youth, 
we  should  have  no  evidence  that  he  ever  bore  more  than  the  famous 
name  of  GILBERT  STUART. 

He  is  described  to  us  by  one  of  his  school  fellows  as  "  a  very 
capable,  self-willed  boy ;  handsome,  forward,  an  only  son,  and 
habituated  at  home  to  have  his  own  way  in  every  thing,  with  little 
or  no  control  of  the  easy,  good  natured  father."  He  was  about 
thirteen  years  old  when  he  began  to  copy  pictures,  and  at  length 
attempted  likenesses  in  black  lead.  There  came  to  Newport  about 
the  year  1772,  a  Scotch  gentleman  named  Cosmo  Alexander ;  he 
was  between  fifty  and  sixty  years  of  age,  of  delicate  health,  and 
prepossessing  manners,  apparently  independent  of  the  profession  of 
painting,  which  ostensibly  was  his  occupation,  though  it  is  believed 
that  he,  and  several  other  gentlemen  of  leisure  and  observation  from 
Britain,  were  travelling  in  this  country  for  political  purposes.  From 
Mr.  Alexander,  young  STUART  first  received  lessons  in  the  grammar 
of  the  art  of  painting,  and  after  the  summer  spent  in  Rhode  Island, 
lie  accompanied  him  to  the  South,  and  afterwards  to  Scotland.  Mr 
Alexander  died  not  long  after  his  arrival  in  Edinburgh,  leaving  his 


GILBERT   CHARLES   STUART. 

pupil  to  the  care  of  Sir  George  Chambers,  who  did  not  long  survive 
him.  Into  whose  hands  our  young  artist  fell  after  these  disappoint 
ments,  we  know  not,  nor  is  it  to  be  regretted,  for  the  treatment  he 
received  was  harsh,  such  as  ne'ther  GILBERT  STUART  or  his  father 
ever  mentioned.  The  young  man  returned  to  Newport,  arid  after  a 
time  resumed  his  pencil. 

Mr.  Joseph  Anthony,  of  Philadelphia,  visited  his  sister,  the  mother 
of  the  painter,  soon  after  GILBERT'S  return,  and  on  going  into  his 
painting  room,  was  surprised  to  find  a  striking  likeness  of  his  mother, 
Mrs.  Anthony,  the  grandmother  of  the  painter,  who,  although  he 
had  not  seen  her  since  he  was  twelve  years  of  age,  for  he  was  no 
.:lder  at  the  time  of  her  death,  had,  by  the  power  of  recollection,  aided 
jy  kindred  attachment,  produced  the  likeness  which  now  attracted 
the  attention  and  gained  the  favor  of  his  uncle.  This  faculty  of 
preserving  the  images  of  those  once  known  was  one  of  the  charac 
teristics  of  STUART'S  genius. 

Mr.  Anthony,  his  family,  and  friends,  sat  for  portraits  to  the  young 
artist,  who  was  now  in  the  full  tide  of  prosperity.  About  this  time, 
i,he  winter  of  1773-4,  he  and  his  friend  Waterhouse  were  fellow 
students  in  an  academy  for  drawing,  of  their  own  formation.  They 
hired  a  strong-muscled  journeyman  blacksmith,  as  their  academy 
figure,  at  half  a  dollar  the  evening;  and  thus,  probably,  anticipated 
any  other  academical  study  from  the  naked  figure  in  their  country 
by  many  years. 

Ardent  as  STUART'S  love  of  painting  was,  we  have  Dr.  Water- 
house's  authority  for  saying,  that  music  divided  his  affections  so 
equally  with  her  sister,  that  it  was  difficult  to  say  which  was  "  the 
ruling  passion."  In  the  beginning  of  March,  1775,  STUART'S  friend, 
Waterhouse,  embarked  for  London,  with  the  intention  of  pursuing 
his  medical  studies  in  the  schools  of  Europe,  and  the  young  painter, 
probably  finding  his  business  interrupted  by  the  approach  of  war, 
found  means  to  follow,  relying,  as  it  would  seem,  upon  the  resources 
of  his  friend,  for  an  introduction  to  the  treasures  of  the  British 
metropolis.  He  arrived  in  London  in  the  latter  end  of  November, 
when  he  found  that  Waterhouse  had  gone  to  Edinburgh,  and  he 
had  not  one  acquaintance  in  this  strange  world,  and  no  resource  but 
his  pencil  and  a  letter  to  a  Scotch  gentleman,  who  received  him 
kindly,  and  employed  him  to  paint  a  picture  for  him,  which,  when 
his  friend  Waterhouse  returned  to  London,  in  the  summer  of  1776) 
he  found  still  unfinished  on  his  easel. 

During  this  period,  when  his  father's  business  was  broke  up  by 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

the  events  of  the  war  in  America,  and  the  young  painter  was  left  to 
shift  for  himself,  without  experience  or  prudence,  his  skill  in  music, 
both  practical  and  theoretical,  stood  him  in  stead,  and  gave  him  the 
means  of  subsistence  in  a  manner  as  extraordinary  as  his  character 
and  actions  were  eccentric.  While  he  was  in  this  state  of  extreme 
poverty,  without  employment  or  the  means  of  subsistence,  walking 
the  streets  without  any  definite  purpose,  he  passed  by  a  church  in 
Foster  Lane,  saw  the  door  open,  and  several  persons  going  in.  He 
was  attracted  by  the  sound  of  the  organ — he  inquired  at  the  door 
what  was  going  on  within,  and  was  told,  the  vestry  were  making 
trial  of  several  candidates  for  the  situation  of  organist,  the  last  incum 
bent  having  recently  died.  STUART  entered  the  church,  and  encou 
raged,  as  he  said,  by  a  look  of  good  nature  in  the  countenance  of  one 
of  the  vestrymen,  addressed  him,  and  asked  if  a  stranger  might  try 
his  skill  and  become  a  candidate  for  the  vacant  place.  His  request 
was  granted,  and  he  had  the  pleasure  to  find  that  the  time  he  had 
employed  in  making  himself  a  musician,  had  not  been  thrown  away. 
His  playing  was  preferred  to  that  of  his  rivals,  and  he  was  engaged 
at  a  salary  which  relieved  present  necessities,  and  enabled  him  to 
return  to  his  studies  as  a  painter.  "  When,"  says  Mr.  Charles  Fraser, 
"Mr.  STUART  related  this  anecdote  to  me,  he  was  sitting  in  his 
parlor,  and  to  prove  that  he  did  not  neglect  the  talent  that  had  beei; 
so  friendly  to  him  in  his  youth,  and  in  the  days  of  his  adversity,  he 
took  his  seat  at  a  small  organ  in  the  room,  and  played  several  tunes 
with  much  feeling  and  execution." 

On  the  return  of  his  friend  from  Edinburgh,  to  pursue  his  studies 
by  "  walking  the  hospitals"  in  London,  he  had  the  pleasure  of  pro 
curing  several  sitters  for  the  young  painter  ;  but  he  could  with 
difficulty  keep  him  in  that  straight  course  which  is  so  necessary  tc 
permanent  prosperity. 

Strange  as  it  may  appear,  STUART  was  a  long  time  in  Louder, 
without  seeing,  or  being  introduced  to  his  great  countryman,  West. 
There  appears  to  be  no  reason  for  this  omission,  and  for  not  gaining 
access,  for  at  least  two  years,  to  that  source  of  instruction  which  was 
ever  open  to  ,those  who  thirsted  for  knowledge,  and  more  especially 
to  Americans.  At  length,  Dr.  Waterhouse  says,  "  After  I  had  ex 
hausted  all  my  means  of  helping  forward  my  ingenious  friend  and 
Countryman,  I  called  upon  Mr.  West,  and  laid  open  to  him  his 
situation."  The  consequence  was,  an  invitation  from  Mr.  West,  and 
his  continued  friendship,  support,  and  instruction. 

Soon  after  this,  STUART'S  friend,  Waterhouse,  went  to  Leyden,  to 


GILBERT   CHARLES    STUART. 

finish  his  studies,  and  they  did  not  meet  again  until  the  paintei 
removed  from  Washington  to  Boston ;  for  the  intermediate  time,  we 
have  to  look  to  other  authorities,  arid  one  of  the  first  is  Colonel 
Trumbull,  who  on  being  introduced  to  Mr.  West,  in  August,  1780, 
found  STUART  as  his  pupil.  Mr.  STUART  uniformly  said,  that  on 
application  to  Mr.  West  he  was  received  with  great  benevolence ; 
that  nothing  could  exceed  the  attention  of  that  distinguished  artist 
to  him,  and  when  he  saw  that  he  was  fitted  for  the  field,  —  armed  to 
contend  with  the  best  and  the  highest,  —  he  advised  him  to  com 
mence  his  career  professionally.  While  under  Mr.  West's  roof,  he 
became  known  to  celebrated  artists,  and  to  the  lords  of  the  kind. 
Dance  admired  and  encouraged  him,  and  presented  his  palette  to 
him.  His  full  length  of  Mr.  Grant,  skating,  attracted  great  applause., 
and  he,  soon  after  taking  rooms  and  setting  up  an  independent  easel, 
had  his  full  share  of  the  best  business  in  London  as  a  portrait 
painter ;  and  as  Colonel  Trumbull  has  said,  had  prices  equal  to  any, 
except  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  and  Gainsborough.  It  is  the  opinion  of 
STUART'S  contemporaries  in  London,  that  with  common  prudence 
he  might  have  been  the  successor  of  Reynolds.  He  was  not  prudent ; 
and  found  it  convenient  to  visit  Dublin,  where  he  was  received  with 
Hibernian  hospitality  ;  delighting  as  much  by  his  wit  and  convi 
viality  as  by  his  pencil. 

In  1793  he  returned  to  America.  He  embarked  from  Dublin,  and 
arrived  in  New  York,  where  he  set  up  his  easel,  and  was  thronged 
with  admirers  and  sitters.  To  gratify  his  desire  to  paint  Wash 
ington,  a  desire  which,  he  has  said,  brought  him  from  the  scene  of 
his  European  success,  he  visited  Philadelphia,  and  having  been  fully 
successful  in  his  mission,  he  fixed  his  residence  in  that  city  and 
neighborhood  for  some  years. 

An  eminent  artist  has  said  of  STUART'S  Washington:  "And  well 
is  his  ambition  justified  in  the  sublime  head  he  has  left  us  :  a  nobler 
personification  of  wisdom  and  goodness,  reposing  in  the  majesty  of 
a  serene  conscience,  is  not  to  be  found  on  canvass." 

The  writer  of  this  necessarily  short  and  imperfect  sketch,  who 
knew  Washington,  both  as  general  and  president,  perfectly  coincides 
with  the  above  tribute  of  praise  from  a  brother  artist.  When  artists 
speak  of  STUART'S  Washington,  let  it  be  remembered,  that  they 
mean  the  original  picture,  refused  by  the  State  of  Massachu 
setts,  arid  purchased  as  an  inestimable  gem  by  the  Athenaeum,  of 
Boston.  The  copies  generally  circulated,  and  the  prints  from  Heath's 
workshop,  in  London,  are  libels  equally  on  the  painter  and  the  hero. 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

Mr.  STUART  always  considered  the  publication  of  this  print,  not 
only  as  injurious  to  his  reputation,  but  as  a  piracy  upon  his  property 
When  he  saw  the  print  exhibited  for  sale  in  Philadelphia,  he  could 
not  restrain  his  just  indignation. 

While  Mr.  STUART  was  prosperously  exercising  his  profession  in 
Pennsylvania,  we  are  informed  that  he  purchased  a  farm  at  Potts- 
Grove,  as  a  resting  place  for  his  family,  but  that  the  plan  was  not  car 
ried  through  with  the  prudence  which  conceived  it.  He  removed  to 
Washington,  and  was  there  as  elsewhere,  gladly  welcomed.  In  1805, 
he  finally  fixed  himself  at  Boston,  where  he,  with  undiminished 
talents,  exercised  his  profession  until  the  day  of  his  death.  The  por 
trait  of  John  Adams,  painted  after  the  venerable  patriot  and  president 
was  upwards  of  eighty,  has  been  the  admiration  of  all  who  have  seen 
it ;  and  the  painter's  last  work,  the  head  of  an  intended  full  length 
of  the  ex-president,  John  Q,uincy  Adams,  is  equal  to  any  of  the  great 
painter's  works,  when  he  was  in  the  prime  of  life  and  vigor  of  health. 

The  colloquial  talents  of  GILBERT  STUART  were  exerted  as  aux 
iliaries  to  his  pencil.  He  had  a  fund  of  wit  inexhaustible,  and  of 
anecdote,  or  historical  knowledge,  his  reading  and  his  memory 
furnished  him  with  an  everlasting  store.  His  early  friend,  Dr. 
Waterhouse,  has  thus  characterized  and  described  that  power  and 
art  with  which  he  fascinated  his  sitters,  making  them  forget  the 
confinement  of  the  "  painter's  chair,"  and  drawing  forth  the  inmost 
soul  upon  the  surface  of  the  countenance,  while  he  fixed  it  on  his 
canvass  by  the  magic  of  his  colors.  "  In  conversation  and  confabu 
lation,  he  was  inferior  to  no  man.  He  always  made  it  a  point  to 
keep  those  talking  who  were  sitting  to  him  for  their  portraits,  each 
in  their  own  way,  free  and  easy.  This  called  up  all  his  resources 
of  judgment.  To  military  men,  he  spoke  of  battles  by  sea  and  land. 
With  the  statesman,  on  Hume's  and  Gibbon's  History — with  the 
lawyer,  in  his  way — the  merchant  in  his  way,  and  with  the  ladies^ 
in  all  ways.  When  putting  the  rich  farmer  on  the  canvass,  he 
would  go  along  with  him  from  seed  time  to  harvest  time — then  he 
would  descant  on  the  nice  points  of  a  fine  horse,  ox,  cow,  sheep,  or 
pig,  and  surprise  him  with  his  just  remarks  on  the  progress  ot 
making  cheese  and  butter,  and  astonish  him  with  his  profound 
knowledge  of  manures,  or  the  food  of  plants.  As  to  national  cha 
racter  and  individual  character,  few  men  could  say  more  to  the 
purpose,  as  far  as  history  and  acute  personal  observation  would 
carry  him.  He  had  wit  at  will,  always  ample,  sometimes  redundant, 
remarkably  so,  after  his  long  sojourn  in  Ireland." 


GILBERT   CHARLES    STUART. 

His  friend,  Waterhouse,  was  disposed  to  attribute  STUART'S  undue 
attachment  to  the  pleasures  of  the  table  and  convivial  society,  to  his 
residence  on  the  Emerald  Isle ;  but  he  carried  all  his  propensities 
and  resources  for  smoothing  the  road  to  ruin  with  him,  from  the 
centre  of  all  dissipation,  as  well  as  all  rational  enjoyment,  London. 
Of  STUART,  as  of  some  others,  it  may  be  said  in  the  common  phrase 
ology  of  mankind,  "  he  had  every  kind  of  sense  but  common  sense." 
He  had  knowledge  enough  to  have  guided  an  empire,  and  did  not 
pilot  his  own  frail  vessel  into  port,  even  when  wind  and  tide  were 
with  him. 

Nature  had  bestowed  on  GILBERT  STUART  her  choicest  gifts. 
His  mind  and  body  were  of  the  most  powerful,  and  the  best  endowed, 
for  active  exertion  or  ponderous  labor — for  grasping  the  minute  or 
the  vast — for  relishing  the  beauties  of  art  or  diving  into  the  profun 
dities  of  science.  These  gifts,  when  used,  lead  to  fortune,  fame,  and 
happiness  ;  and  their  possessor  is  blessed  with  equanimity  and  cheer 
fulness — when  abused,  the  result  is  disappointment,  poverty,  disease, 
self-reproach,  and  occasional  misanthropy.  It  is  a  vulgar  error,  that 
genius  and  imprudence  have  a  natural  alliance.  The  contrary 
is  the  fact.  Eminent  genius  may  be,  has  been,  misled;  but  the 
most  eminent  are  bright  proofs  that  genius  and  virtue  are  by 
nature  allied,  and  that  the  imprudent  man  of  great  talents  is  the 
exception  to  the  rule. 

Certain  it  is,  that  GILBERT  STUART  did  not  watch  and  properly 
turn  to  his  advantage  that  "tide  in  the  affairs  of  men,  which  taken 
at  the  flood,  leads  on  to  fortune,"  and  it  is  equally  certain,  that  the 
neglect  involved  him  in  the  "  shoals  and  shallows"  which  the  great 
philosophic  poet  tells  us,  is  the  inevitable  consequence.  He  returned 
to  New  England,  (after  shining  with  the  splendor  of  a  sun  and  the 
irregularity  of  a  meteor,  in  England,  Ireland,  and  the  central  portions 
of  the  United  States,)  to  finish  his  eccentric  career,  without  that 
brilliancy  which  fortune  bestows,  but  with  undiminished  fame  and 
unrivalled  excellence  as  an  artist,  to  the  last  days  of  his  existence ; 
dying  at  the  advanced  age  of  seventy-four,  in  the  month  of  July, 
1828,  regretted  by  all  who  knew  him,  and  leaving,  "a  void"  "in 
the  world  of  art,"  "which  will  not  soon  be  filled." 

We  cordially  adopt  into  our  memoir  words  written  in  1828  by  an 
eminent  artist,  whose  language  bears  the  impress  of  truth,  judgment, 
and  feeling.  The  "glimpses  of  character"  which  STUART  elicited 
from  his  sitters  by  his  colloquial  powers,  "  mixed  as  they  are  in  all 
men  with  so  much  that  belongs  to  their  age  and  associates,  would 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

nave  been  of  little  use  to  an  ordinary  observer ;  for  the  faculty  of 
distinguishing  between  the  accidental  and  the  permanent,  in  other 
words,  between  the  conventional  expression  which  arises  from  man 
ner  s,  and  that  more  subtle  indication  of  the  individual  mind,  is  indeed 
no  common  one :  and  by  no  one  with  whom  we  are  acquainted,  was 
their  faculty  possessed  in  so  remarkable  a  degree.  It  was  this  which 
enabled  him  to  animate  his  canvass — not  with  the  appearance  of 
mere  general  life,  but  with  that  peculiar  distinctive  life,  which  sepa 
rates  the  humblest  individual  from  his  kind.  He  seemed  to  dive 
into  the  thoughts  of  men — for  they  were  made  to  rise  and  speak  on 
the  surface."  "In  his  happier  efforts,  no  one  ever  surpassed  him  in 
embodying  (if  we  may  so  speak,)  those  transient  apparitions  of  the 
soul.  Of  this,  not  the  least  admirable  instance  is  his  portrait,  painted 
within  the  last  four  years,  (when  the  painter  was  upwards  of  seventy,) 
of  the  late  President  Adams ;  whose  then  bodily  tenement  seemed 
rather  to  present  the  image  of  some  dilapidated  castle,  than  that  of 
the  habitation  of  the  'unbroken  mind  ;'  but  not  such  is  the  picture  : 
called  forth  as  from  its  crumbling  recesses,  the  living  tenant  is  there  — 
still  ennobling  the  ruin,  and  upholding  it,  as  it  were,  by  the  strength 
of  his  own  life.  In  this  venerable  ruin,  will  the  unbending  patriot 
and  the  gifted  artist  speak  to  posterity  of  the  first  glorious  century 
of  our  republic." 

In  a  word,  GILBERT  STUART  was,  in  its  widest  sense,  a  philo 
sopher  in  his  art :  he  thoroughly  understood  its  principles,  as  his 
works  bear  witness,  whether  as  to  the  harmony  of  colors  or  of  lines, 
or  of  light  and  shadow — showing  that  exquisite  sense  of  a  whole, 
which  only  a  man  of  genius  can  realize  and  embody. 

We  cannot  close  this  brief  notice  without  a  passing  record  of  his 
generous  bearing  towards  his  professional  brethren.  He  never  suf 
fered  the  manliness  of  his  nature  to  darken  with  the  least  shadow  of 
jealousy ;  but  where  praise  was  due,  he  gave  it  freely,  and  gave  it, 
too,  with  a  grace  which  showed  that,  loving  excellence  for  its  own 
sake,  he  had  a  pleasure  in  praising.  To  the  younger  artists,  he  was 
uniformly  kind  and  indulgent,  and  most  liberal  of  his  advice;  which 
no  one  ever  properly  asked  but  he  received,  and  in  a  manner  no  less 
courteous  than  impressive.  Well  may  his  country  say,  "  a  great  man 
has  passed  from  amongst  us  ;"  but  GILBERT  STUART  has  bequeatheq 
her  what  is  paramount  to  power — since  no  power  can  command  it — 
the  rich  inheritance  of  his  fame. 

The  appearance  of  STUART  as  a  painter  of  portraits  has  been  regarded 
as  a  memorable  era  in  the  history  of  American  arts ;  and  inasmuch  as 


GILBERT  CHARLES  STUART. 

he  has  yet  had  no  rival,  it  would  be  wrong  to  dismiss  this  memoir  of 
him,  drawn  up,  some  years  since,  by  one  who  well  understood  his 
subject,  without  a  few  lines  relative  to  the  magnificent  engraving  of 
Washington  from  the  most  striking  likeness  ever  taken.  This  is  from 
the  portrait  already  referred  to,  which  the  artist  would  never  part  with 
during  his  lifetime,  but  which  was  purchased  from  his  widow,  and 
placed  in  the  AthenaBum  of  Boston,  as  the  painter's  most  distinguished 
effort. 

A  few  additional  facts  connected  with  the  portrait  itself  cannot  be 
unacceptable,  especially  as  they  tend  more  fully  to  illustrate  the  cha 
racter  and  taste  of  STUART.  It  has  been  already  said  that  the  main 
reason  why  the  artist  left  Europe,  with  all  the  fame  and  large  income 
he  had  secured  there,  was  to  paint  "  the  father  of  his  country."  He 
was  of  opinion  that  he  had  failed  in  his  first  attempt,  and  he  destroyed 
the  portrait ;  the  second  trial  was  eminently  successful  ;  so  that  Leslie 
said,  "  How  fortunate  it  was  that  a  painter  existed  in  the  time  of 
Washington,  who  could  hand  him  down  to  us  looking  like  a  gentleman." 
Congress,  when  Vanderlyn  was  employed  to  paint  a  full-length 
portrait  of  the  hero  for  the  nation,  stipulated  that  he  should  copy  his 
countenance  from  this  picture.  Every  one  who  knew  the  original,  and 
who  has  seen  the  portrait,  bears  testimony  that  more  of  the  mind  of 
Washington  appears  in  it  than  in  any  other  picture. 

An  authentic  account  of  the  numerous  "  portraits  of  Washington," 
would  be  in  itself  an  acquisition  to  the  history  of  art  in  the  United 
States.  Savage,  Pine,  Madame  de  Briehan,  Robertson — who  painted 
a  portrait  expressly  for  the  Earl  of  Buchan — and  other  artists,  op 
pressed  the  General  with  applications  to  sit  to  them,  till  he  complained 
that  he  was  heartily  tired  of  the  tax  upon  his  patience  and  time,  and 
declined  to  do  so  in  aid  of  what  he  deemed  was  intended  also  to  be 
a  "  tax  on  individuals"  for  the  benefit  of  the  artists  by  whom  he  was 
besieged. 

STUART,  as  has  already  been  stated,  was  indignant  at  the  treatment 
he  received  from  Heath,  whose  conduct,  in  engraving  the  full-length 
portrait  painted  for  Lord  Lansdowne,  and  spreading  what  he  termed 
"  a  libel"  upon  himself  and  Washington  throughout  the  country,  he 
reprobated  as  a  piracy.  He  asserted,  indeed,  that  he  himself  had 
never  been  able  to  make  a  copy  of  the  "Athenaeum  portrait"  to 
satisfy  himself;  and  he  denied  that  any  engraver  had  ever  produced, 
from  any  other  source,  the  features  which  he  alone  has  left  us  in  such 
perfection.  The  excellent  and  faithful  engraving  of  it  by  Durand, 
prefixed  to  the  second  volume  of  Sparks's  Writings  of  Washington 

q  VOL.  1.— T 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

appeared  in  1834,  after  the  death  of  STUART,  and  was.  we  believe, 
the  first  ever  made.  Very  recently  Mr.  T.  B.  Welch,  of  Charleston, 
South  Carolina,  now  resident  in  Philadelphia,  an  eminent  engraver  of 
portraits,  has  engraved  it  with  perfect  success,  and  a  copy  which 
exhibits  the  full  character  of  the  original  is  no  longer  a  desideratum — 
the  progress  of  American  skill  has  amply  vindicated  the  genius  and 
spread  the  fame  of  STUART. 


MA.IOU    CKXKIiAI.    ISIIAKI.    IM'TXAM. 


ISRAEL    P  U  T  N A  M . 


THI  names  country 

whi  nile 

par? 
abui 

Mpt, 
revo 
lutionary  war,  are  still  du  our 
time-worn  veterans.  Endowed  by  nature  \v it  <e,  a 
vigorous  intellect,  undaunted  courage,  and  a  spirit  of  enterprise,  he 
was  "pec  i:  .-Is  and  •  hardships  of  the 
tirfii  was  but 

an*1  e  British 

wi'i  enabled 

him  ?   10 

himself  was 

sincere,  i»le<i 

confident 

Major  Gei,  ,-ar- 

liest  settlers  .  in  which  town 

on  the  7th  of  Jiu 

exercises.     He  marrh  removed  t  :,  in 

Connecticut,  where  f  ract 

of  land.  Here  he  first  exhibited  the  daring  of  his  character  in  the 
destruction  of  a  she-wolf,  which,  afW  a  long  pursuit,  had  taken 
refuge  iu  a  dark  and  narrow  den,  a*  >*?it  forty  feet  from  the  entrance 
In  1755,  when  the  war  betwe  *  and  France  was  proser 

in  America,  he  was  u:  of  rangers  in  the  pi 

regiment  under  Colonel  Lyman.  Is  served  under  Gene 

rals  Abercrornbic  and  An-  and  in  * 

rose  to  the  rank  of  liens- •  '         luring  tha* 

frequently  in  situations  wr  not  only  coi,  unwea 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

ried  watchfulness  and  presence  of  mind,  he  gained  the  esteem  and 
confidence  of  the  army. 

Of  his  numerous  adventures  by  flood  and  field  during  this  period, 
the  following  will  serve  as  examples,  characteristic  of  the  man  and 
of  the  service  in  which  he  was  engaged. 

When  stationed  at  Fort  Miller,  by  his  personal  exertions  a  maga 
zine,  containing  three  hundred  barrels  of  powder,  was  saved  from 
destruction  by  a  fire  which  consumed  the  barracks  and  burned 
through  the  outside  planks  of  the  magazine. 

Being  on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Hudson,  near  the  rapids  in  the 
vicinity  of  Fort  Miller,  with  a  batteau  and  five  men,  he  received  a 
signal  from  the  opposite  bank  that  a  large  body  of  savages  were  in 
his  rear.  To  stay  and  be  sacrificed,  to  attempt  crossing  and  be  shot, 
or  to  go  down  the  fails,  were  the  sole  alternatives  that  presented 
themselves  to  his  choice.  So  instantaneously  was  the  latter  adopted, 
that  one  man  was  of  necessity  left,  and  fell  a  victim  to  savage  bar 
barity.  The  Indians  fired  on  the  batteau  before  it  could  be  got 
under  way ;  and  no  sooner  had  it  escaped  by  the  rapidity  of  the  cur 
rent  beyond  the  reach  of  musket-shot,  than  destruction  seemed  only 
to  have  been  avoided  in  one  form  to  be  encountered  in  another. 
Prominent  rocks,  latent  shelves,  absorbing  eddies,  and  abrupt  descents 
for  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  afforded  scarcely  the  smallest  chance  of 
escaping.  PUTNAM  placed  himself  sedately  at  the  helm ;  his  com 
panions  saw  him  with  astonishment  avoiding  the  rocks  and  yawning 
gulfs  which  threatened  instant  destruction,  and  safely  shooting 
through  the  only  passage,  they  at  last  viewed  the  batteau  gliding  on 
the  smooth  surface  of  the  stream  below. 

While  engaged  against  the  French  and  Indians  near  Lake  George. 
Major  PUTNAM  was  ambuscaded  and  attacked  by  a  superior  foice. 
His  officers  and  men,  animated  by  his  example,  behaved  with  great 
bravery ;  but  after  several  discharges  his  fusee  missed  fire.  A  large 
and  well-proportioned  Indian,  with  a  tremendous  war-whoop,  in 
stantly  sprang  forward  with  his  lifted  hatchet  and  compelled  him  to 
surrender,  and  having  disarmed  and  bound  him  to  a  tree,  returned  to 
the  battle.  The  Indians  having  changed  their  position,  he  was 
directly  between  the  fires  of  the  two  parties,  the  balls  flying  inces 
santly  from  each  side.  Many  struck  the  tree,  and  several  passed 
through  his  coat.  In  this  state  of  jeopardy  he  remained  more  than 
an  hour.  The  enemy  having  again  recovered  the  ground,  a  young 
savage  amused  himself  by  hurling  his  tomahawk  to  see  how  near  he 
could  throw  it  without  striking  his  head.  The  weapon  struck  in  the 


ISRAEL  PUTNAM. 

tree  a  number  of  times  at  a  hair's  breadth  from  the  mark.  After  the 
Indian  had  finished  his  amusement,  a  French  officer  approached  and 
levelled  his  fusee  within  a  foot  of  his  breast ;  but  fortunately  it  missed 
fire.  Besides  many  base  outrages  upon  this  defenceless  prisoner, 
they  inflicted  a  deep  wound  with  a  tomahawk  upon  his  left  cheek, 
and  this  mark  remained  during  life.  The  enemy  were  at  length 
driven  from  the  field ;  PUTNAM  was  untied  by  the  Indian  who  had 
made  him  prisoner,  and  was  stripped  of  his  coat,  vest,  stockings,  and 
shoes,  strongly  pinioned,  and  loaded  with  packs.  On  the  march 
through  the  wilderness,  Major  PUTNAM  became  so  exhausted,  that 
he  preferred  death  to  a  longer  continuance  in  distress.  A  French 
officer  now  interposed,  and  the  Indian  who  captured  him  gave  him 
a  pair  of  moccasons.  The  savages  being  determined  to  roast  him 
alive,  stripped  him  naked,  bound  him  to  a  tree,  piled  combustibles 
in  a  circle  round  him,  and,  with  horrid  screams  and  yells,  set  the 
pile  on  fire.  He  soon  began  to  feel  the  scorching  heat,  and  as  he 
shrunk  from  its  approach  by  shifting  sides,  his  inhuman  tormentors 
demonstrated  their  joy  by  yells  and  dances.  "  When  the  bitterness 
of  death  was  in  a  manner  past,  and  nature,  with  a  feeble  struggle, 
was  quitting  its  last  hold  on  sublunary  things,"  a  French  officer 
rushed  through  the  crowd,  scattered  the  burning  brands,  and  un 
bound  the  victim.  The  next  day  Major  PUTNAM  was  obliged  to 
march,  but  was  excused  from  carrying  any  burden.  After  having 
been  examined  by  the  Marquis  de  Montcalm,  he  was  conducted  to 
Montreal  by  a  French  officer,  and  treated  with  great  humanity.  At 
that  place,  among  other  prisoners,  was  Colonel  Peter  Schuyler,  a 
provincial  officer,  by  whose  assistance  he  was  soon  after  exchanged. 

At  the  expiration  of  ten  years  from  his  first  receiving  a  com 
mission,  after  having  seen  as  much  service,  endured  as  many 
hardships,  encountered  as  many  dangers,  and  acquired  as  many 
laurels,  as  any  officer  of  his  rank,  he  with  great  satisfaction  laid 
aside  his  uniform,  and  returned  to  his  plough.  No  character 
stood  fairer  in  the  public  estimation  for  integrity,  bravery,  and  pa 
triotism.  It  was  proveibially  said,  as  well  by  British  as  provincial 
officers,  that,  in  a  service  of  great  peril  and  hardship,  "  he  dared  to 
lead,  where  any  dared  to  follow" 

At  the  commencement  of  the  struggle  between  the  American  colo 
nies  and  the  mother  country,  while  many  citizens  who  had  wit 
nessed  the  power  of  the  British  nation,  stood  aloof,  PUTNAM  was 
among  the  first  and  most  conspicuous  who  engaged  in  the  glo 
rious  cause.  At  Boston  he  took  frequent  opportunities  of  con- 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

versing  on  the  subject  with  General  Gage,  Lord  Percy,  Major  Small, 
and  other  officers  with  whom  he  had  formerly  served.  Being 
questioned,  in  case  the  dispute  should  proceed  to  hostilities,  what 
part  he  would  really  take,  he  answered,  "with  his  country;  and 
that,  whatever  might  happen,  he  was  prepared  to  abide  the  con  - 
sequence." 

On  hearing  of  the  battle  at  Lexington,  Colonel  PUTNAM  left  his 
plough  in  the  middle  of  the  field,  and,  without  changing  his  clothes, 
repaired  to  Cambridge,  riding  in  a  single  day  one  hundred  miles. 
He  was  soon  appointed  a  major  general  in  the  provincial  army,  then 
to  be  raised,  and,  returning  to  Connecticut,  he  made  no  delay  in 
bringing  on  a  body  of  troops.  Not  long  after  his  appointment,  Gene 
ral  Gage,  unwilling  that  so  valuable  an  officer  should  act  in  opposi 
tion,  privately  conveyed  to  him  a  proposal,  that  if  he  would  quit  the 
rebel  party,  he  might  rely  on  being  made  a  major  general  in  the 
British  establishment,  and  receiving  an  ample  pecuniary  compensa 
tion  for  his  services  ;  but  he  spurned  the  offer.  On  the  16th  of  June, 
1775,  it  was  determined  in  a  council  of  war,  at  which  General  PUT 
NAM  assisted,  that  a  fortified  post  should  be  established  at,  or  near 
Bunker  Hill.  General  PUTNAM  marched  with  the  first  detachment, 
and  commenced  the  work ;  he  was  the  principal  engineer  who  traced 
the  lines  of  the  redoubt  on  Breed's  Hill,  and  he  continued  most  of  the 
night  with  the  workmen.  At  sunrise  on  the  morning  of  the  17th, 
he  had  taken  his  station ;  and  he  participated  in  the  danger  as  well 
as  the  glory  of  that  day.  He  was,  it  is  believed,  considered  as  having 
the  general  superintendence  of  the  expedition.  As  the  enemy  ad 
vanced,  General  PUTNAM  rode  through  the  line  of  his  own  troops, 
and  ordered  that  no  one  should  fire  till  they  arrived  within  eight 
rods,  nor  any  one  until  commanded.  Powder  was  scarce,  and  must 
not  be  wasted.  They  should  not  fire  at  the  enemy  till  they  could  see 
the  white  of  their  eyes,  and  then  fire  low,  and  take  aim  at  their  waist 
bands.  "  You  are  all  marksmen,"  he  added,  "  and  can  kill  a  squirrel 
at  a  hundred  yards ;  reserve  your  fire,  and  the  enemy  will  be  de 
stroyed."  During  the  heat  of  the  battle,  PUTNAM  was  seen  riding 
from  front  to  rear,  and  from  place  to  place,  where  his  presence  was 
most  needed,  animating  both  officers  and  men,  his  sword  waving  in 
the  air,  threatening  to  cut  down  the  first  who  should  disobey  orders, 
or  act  a  cowardly  part.  At  one  time  the  gallant  Major  Small  was 
left  standing  alone,  every  one  shot  down  about  him.  The  never 
erring  muskets  were  levelled  at  him,  and  a  soldier's  fate  was  his 
inevitable  destiny,  had  not  PUTNAM  at  the  instant  appeared.  Each 


ISRAEL  PUTNAM. 

recognised  in  the  other  an  old  friend  and  fellow-soldier — the  tie  was 
sacred — PUTNAM  threw  up  the  deadly  muskets  with  his  sword,  and 
arrested  his  fate.  He  begged  his  men  to  spare  that  officer,  as  dear 
to  him  as  a  brother.  The  general's  humane  and  chivalrous  gene 
rosity  excited  admiration,  and  his  friend  retired  unhurt. 

Both  the  poet  and  the  painter  have  placed  PUTNAM  in  the  rear  of 
the  retreating  troops. 

"  There  strides  bold  PUTNAM,  and  from  all  the  plains 
Calls  the  tired  host,  the  tardy  rear  sustains, 
And,  mid  the  whizzing  deaths  that  fill  the  air 
Waves  back  his  sword,  and  dares  the  following  war." 

BARLOW'S  VISION  OF  COLUMBUS,  and 

TRUMBULL'S  BATTLE  OF  BUNKER  HILL. 

in  connection  with  this  part  of  our  subject,  we  cannot  avoid  adding  the 
following  letter  from  Colonel  John  Trumbull,  an  officer  in  the  revolu 
tionary  war,  afterward  the  president  of  the  American  Academy  of  the 
Fine  Arts,  to  Daniel  Putnam,  esq.,  dated  "New  York,  March  30, 1818." 
"In  the  summer  of  1786,  I  became  acquainted  in  London  with 
Colonel  John  Small,  of  the  British  army,  who  had  served  in  Ame 
rica  many  years,  and  had  known  General  PUTNAM  intimately  during 
the  war  of  Canada,  from  1756  to  1763.  From  him  I  had  the 
following  anecdote  respecting  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  I  shall 
nearly  repeat  his  words.  Looking  at  the  picture,  which  I  had  then 
almost  completed,  he  said,  1 1  do  n't  like  the  situation  in  which  you 
have  placed  rny  old  friend  PUTNAM  —  you  have  not  done  him 
justice.  I  wish  you  to  alter  that  part  of  your  picture,  and  introduce 
a  circumstance  which  actually  happened,  and  which  I  can  nevei 
forget.  When  the  British  troops  advanced  the  second  time  to  the 
attack  of  the  redoubt,  I,  with  other  officers,  was  in  front  of  the  line 
to  encourage  the  men.  We  had  advanced  very  near  the  works 
undisturbed,  when  an  irregular  fire,  like  a  feu  de  joie,  was  poured  in 
on  us — it  was  cruelly  fatal.  The  troops  fell  back;  and  when  I 
looked  to  the  right  and  left,  I  saw  not  one  officer  standing.  1 
glanced  my  eye  to  the  enemy,  and  saw  several  young  men  levelling 
thuir  pieces  at  me  —  I  knew  their  excellence  as  marksmen,  and 
con  sidered  myself  gone.  At  this  moment  my  old  friend  PUTNAM 
rushed  forward,  and  striking  up  the  muzzles  of  their  pieces  with  his 
sword,  cried  out,  'For  God's  sake,  my  lads,  don't  fire  at  that  man  — 
I  love  him  as  I  do  my  brother.'  We  were  so  near  each  other,  that  1 
heard  his  words  distinctly.  He  was  obeyed — I  bowed,  thanked  him. 
and  walked  away  unmolested.'  " 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

When,  in  July  1775,  General  Washington  arrived  at  Cambridge 
he  found  General  PUTNAM  industriously  engaged  in  accelerating  the 
construction  of  the  necessary  defences.  His  great  activity  and  per 
sonal  industry,  the  undisguised  frankness  of  his  disposition,  and  the 
peculiar  interest  which  he  discovered  in  every  thing  pe-rtaining  to 
the  army,  soon  attracted  the  attention  of  the  commander  in  chief;  a 
firm  friendship  was  cemented  between  these  two  generals,  which 
continued  undiminished  till  separated  by  death.  Washington  having 
divided  the  army  into  three  grand  divisions,  consisting  of  about 
twelve  regiments  each,  he  appointed  Major  General  Ward  to  com 
mand  the  right  wing,  Major  General  Lee  the  left  wing,  and  Major 
General  PUTNAM  the  reserve. 

Immediately  after  the  British  army  evacuated  Boston,  on  the  17th 
of  March,  1776,  General  Washington  ordered  the  greater  part  of  his 
army  to  New  York,  in  order  to  secure  that  city  from  an  attack ;  and 
detached  General  PUTNAM,  with  instructions  to  "make  the  best 
despatch  in  getting  to  New  York,  to  assume  the  command,  and 
immediately  proceed  in  continuing  to  execute  the  plan  proposed  by 
Major  General  Lee,  for  fortifying  that  city,  and  securing  the  passes 
of  the  East  and  North  rivers."  On  his  arrival,  he  issued  his  orders, 
enjoining  on  the  soldiers  the  strictest  observance  of  order,  and 
prohibiting  the  inhabitants  from  all  intercourse  with  the  British 
fleet.  The  consequence  was,  that  in  a  short  time  all  the  British 
armed  vessels  sailed  out  of  the  harbor.  The  commander  in  chief 
arrived  in  New  York  about  the  middle  of  April,  and  in  his  first 
public  orders  returned  thanks  to  the  officers  who  had  successively 
commanded  at  New  York,  for  the  many  works  of  defence  which  had 
been  so  expeditiously  erected. 

General  Washington  being  required  by  congress  to  visit  Philadel 
phia,  General  PUTNAM  was  the  commander  of  the  army  during  his 
absence,  from  the  21st  of  May  to  the  6th  of  June.  The  most 
important  duties  devolved  upon  him,  which  were  executed  in  a 
manner  the  most  effectual  and  satisfactory. 

It  was  but  two  days  previous  to  the  battle  on  Long  Island,  that 
General  PUTNAM  was  ordered  to  the  command  of  that  post ;  and  he 
assisted  in  the  arduous  and  complicated  difficulties  of  that  masterly 
retreat.  In  the  memorable  and  distressing  flight  of  the  American 
army  through  New  Jersey,  in  1776,  he  was  always  near,  always  the 
friend,  the  supporter,  and  confidant  of  his  chief.  After  reaching  the 
western  bank  of  the  Delaware  with  the  rear  of  the  army,  tie  was 
ordered  to  Philadelphia,  to  fortify  and  defend  that  city  against  a 
meditated  attack.  When  in  the  summer  of  1 777,  Fort  Montgomery 


ISRAEL  PUTNAM. 

was  captured  by  the  enemy,  and  it  was  determined  t:  erect  another 
fortification  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson  for  the  defence  of  that  river, 
the  commander  in  chief  left  it  wholly  to  the  judgment  of  General 
PUTNAM  to  fix  on  the  spot,  who  decided  in  favor  of  West  Point. 

In  the  battle  of  Princeton,  Captain  M'Pherson,  of  the  17th  British 
regiment,  was  desperately  wounded  and  left  with  the  dead.  General 
PUTNAM  found  him  languishing  in  extreme  distress,  without  a 
surgeon,  without  accommodation,  and  without  a  friend.  He  imme 
diately  caused  every  possible  comfort  to  be  administered  to  him. 
"While  the  recovery  of  Captain  M'Pherson  was  doubtful,  he  desired 
that  General  PUTNAM  would  permit  a  friend  in  the  British  army  at 
Brunswick  to  come  and  assist  him  in  making  his  will.  General 
PUTNAM,  who  had  then  only  fifty  men  in  his  whole  command,  was 
sadly  embarrassed  by  the  proposition.  He  was  not  willing  that  a 
British  officer  should  spy  out  the  weakness  of  his  post;  and  it  was 
not  in  his  nature  to  refuse  complying  with  a  dictate  of  humanity. 
He  luckily  bethought  himself  of  an  expedient,  which  he  hastened  to 
put  in  practice.  A  flag  was  despatched  with  Captain  M'Pherson's 
request,  but  under  an  injunction  not  to  return  with  his  friend  until 
night.  In  the  evening,  lights  were  placed  in  all  the  rooms  of  the 
college,  (at  Princeton,)  and  in  every  apartment  of  the  vacant  houses 
throughout  the  town.  During  the  whole  night,  the  fifty  men,  some 
times  altogether  and  sometimes  in  small  detachments,  were  marched 
from  different  quarters  by  the  house  in  which  M'Pherson  lay. 
Afterwards  it  was  known  that  the  officer,  on  his  return,  reported  that 
General  PUTNAM'S  army,  upon  the  most  moderate  calculation,  could 
not  consist  of  less  than  four  or  five  thousand  men." 

While  General  PUTNAM  was  posted  at  Peekskill,  a  person  by  the 
name  of  Palmer,  who  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  tory  levies,  was 
detected  in  his  camp.  Governor  Tryon  reclaimed  him  as  a  British 
officer,  and  threatened  vengeance  in  case  he  should  be  executed. 
General  PUTNAM  wrote  the  following  pithy  reply. 

"Sir, — Nathan  Palmer,  a  lieutenant  in  your  king's  service,  was 
taken  in  my  camp  as  a  spy — he  was  tried  as  a  spy — he  was  con 
demned  as  a  spy — and  yon  may  rest  assured,  sir,  he  shall  be  hanged 
a*  a  spy.  "  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  &c., 

"  ISRAEL  PUTNAM 

"His  Excellency  Governor  Tryon. 

P.  S.     Aftf  moon.     He  is  hanged." 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

In  the  winter  of  1778,  the  Connecticut  troops,  "  who  had  been 
badly  fed,  badly  clothed,  and  worse  paid,  formed  the  design  of 
marching  to  Hartford,  where  the  general  assembly  was  then  in 
session,  and  demanding  redress.  General  PUTNAM,  hearing  that  the 
second  brigade  was  under  arms  for  this  purpose,  mounted  his  horse, 
galloped  to  the  cantonment,  and  addressed  them.  After  the  several 
regiments  had  received  the  general  as  he  rode  along  the  line,  with 
drums  beating  and  presented  arms,  the  sergeants  who  had  then  the 
command  brought  the  men  to  an  order,  in  which  position  they 
continued  while  he  was  speaking.  He  then  directed  them  to  shoul 
der,  march  to  their  regimental  parades,  and  lodge  arms ;  all  which 
they  executed  with  apparent  good  humor." 

About  the  middle  of  the  winter  of  1778,  while  General  PUTNAM 
was  on  a  visit  to  his  outpost  at  Horseneck,  he  found  Governor 
Try  on  advancing  upon  him  with  a  corps  of  fifteen  hundred  men. 
To  oppose  these,  General  PUTNAM  had  only  a  picquet  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  men,  and  two  iron  field-pieces  without  horses  or 
drag-ropes.  He,  however,  planted  his  cannon  on  the  high  ground, 
and  retarded  their  approach  by  firing  several  times,  until,  perceiving 
the  horse  (supported  by  the  infantry)  about  to  charge,  he  ordered  the 
picquet  to  provide  for  their  safety  by  retiring  to  a  swamp  inaccessible 
to  horse,  and  secured  his  own  by  riding  down  the  steep  declivity  at 
the  church  upon  a  full  trot.  This  hill  was  so  steep  where  he 
descended,  as  to  have  seventy  stone  steps,  for  the  accommodation  of 
foot  passengers.  Here  the  dragoons,  who  were  but  a  sword's  length 
from  him,  stopped  short  and  fired  at  him ;  and  before  they  could 
gain  the  valley,  by  going  round  the  hill,  he  was  far  beyond  their 
reach.  Without  any  other  injury  than  a  bullet-hole  in  his  beaver, 
he  continued  his  route  unmolested  to  Stamford,  where  he  collected 
some  militia,  and  in  turn  pursued  Governor  Tryon  arid  his  party. 

In  December,  1779,  while  on  his  return  from  Connecticut  to  head 
quarters,  this  venerable  man  was  attacked  by  a  paralytic  affection, 
under  which  he  languished  till  the  29th  of  May,  1790,  when  his 
honorable  and  useful  life  was  brought  to  a  final  close,  at  Brooklyn, 
Connecticut. 


.    E.Prad-hamme  from  tte  Original  Miruature  by  Arch. Robert 


1 


ALEXANDER 


ALK 
hist 

OftlM 

lioii 

-       ' 

.. 

in  Scotland.     His  father  was  bred 

Indies  in  that  character,  where  he  became  un*  . 

and  subsequently  lived  in  a  state  of  pecuniary  depend 
moti  -«sed  superior  accomplish 

ments  oi  •  ]  b* 


Dr.  Knox,  a 

mind  a  strong  re, 

displayed  itsel  f  si .  i  with  c< 

though  it  may  ha  ^d  div» 

engrossing  scenes  of  I  -olitical 

placed  as  a  clerk  in  the  «  --e  of  Mr. 

opulent  and  highly  respectable  merchant  of  St.  Croix.    Young  I 

TON  went  through  the  details  of  his  clerical  duty  with  great  asp.- 

fidelity,  and  he  manifested  a  capacity  for  business,  which  atf  r. 

attention  mid  confidence  of  his  patron. 

the  most  asj&rie$  ambition,  and  showed  infiiiiiWe 

rior  genius.     al  conmum,"''  said  he  in  a  \&k't  to  »* 

fellow,  "  the  gro\  'n  of  a  clerk,  to  which  my  for' 

demns  me, and  WOU'K;  ;/risk  ray  l«k.  though  not  my  '•• 

to  exalt  my  station;  I  mean  to  prepur^  the  way  for  futurity."    This 

extraordinary  feeling  and  determined  purpose  in  a  youth  of  twelve 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

years;  this  ardent  love  for  fame,  and  the  still  stronger  attachment  to 
character,  were  felt  and  exhibited  in  every  period  of  his  after  life. 

While  he  was  in  Mr.  Cruger's  office,  HAMILTON  devoted  all  his 
leisure  moments  to  study.  Mathematics,  chemistry,  ethics,  biography, 
knowledge  of  every  kind,  occupied  his  anxious  researches.  In  1772, 
he  gave  a  precise  and  elegant  description  of  the  hurricane  which  had 
recently  swept  over  some  of  the  islands,  and  which  was  anonymously 
published  in  the  island  of  St.  Christopher,  where  it  excited  general 
attention,  and  contributed  to  give  a  happy  direction  to  his  future 
fortunes.  When  the  author  became  known,  his  relations  and  patrons 
resolved  to  send  him  to  the  city  of  New  York,  for  the  purpose  of  a 
better  education. 

He  arrived  in  New  York  in  October,  1772,  and  was  immediately 
placed  at  a  grammar  school,  at  Elizabethtown,  in  New  Jersey,  under 
the  tuition  of  Mr.  Francis  Barber,  who  afterwards  was  distinguished 
as  an  accomplished  officer  in  the  American  service.  HAMILTON 
entered  King's  (now  Columbia)  College  at  the  close  of  1773,  where 
he  soon  "  gave  extraordinary  displays  of  richness  of  genius  and  energy 
of  mind." 

His  active  and  penetrating  mind  was  employed,  even  at  college,  in 
sustaining  and  defending  the  colonial  opposition  to  the  acts  of  the 
British  parliament.  In  July  1774,  while  a  youth  of  seventeen,  he 
appeared  as  a  speaker  at  a  great  public  meeting  of  citizens  in  the  fields, 
(now  the  park  in  front  of  the  city  hall,)  and  enforced  the  duty  of 
resistance  by  an  eloquent  appeal  to  the  good  sense  and  patriotism  of  his 
auditors.  He  also  vindicated  the  cause  of  the  colonies  with  his  pen 
in  several  anonymous  publications.  In  December  1774,  and  February 
1775,  he  was  the  author  of  some  elaborate  pamphlets  in  favor  of  the 
pacific  measures  of  defence,  recommended  by  congress.  He  suggested 
at  that  early  day  the  policy  of  giving  encouragement  to  domestic 
manufactures,  as  a  sure  means  of  lessening  the  need  of  external  com 
merce.  He  anticipated  ample  resources  at  home,  and,  among  other 
things,  observed  that  several  of  the  southern  colonies  were  so  favora 
ble  in  their  soil  and  climate  to  the  growth  of  cotton,  that  such  a  staple 
alone,  with  due  cultivation,  in  a  year  or  two  would  afford  products 
sufficient  to  clothe  the  whole  continent.  He  insisted  upon  our 
unalienable  right  to  the  steady,  uniform,  unshaken  security  of  consti 
tutional  freedom ;  to  the  enjoyment  of  trial  by  jury ;  and  to  the  right 
of  freedom  from  taxation,  except  by  our  own  immediate  representa 
tives  ;  and  that  colonial  legislation  was  an  inherent  right,  never  to  be 
abandoned  or  impaired. 


ALEXANDER  HAMILTON. 

In  the  course  of  this  pamphlet  controversy,  HAMILTON  became 
engaged,  though  unsuspected  by  his  opponents,  in  an  animated  dis 
cussion  with  Dr.  Cooper,  principal  of  the  college,  and  with  wits  and 
politicians  of  established  character  on  the  ministerial  side  of  the  ques 
tion.  The  profound  principles,  able  reasoning,  and  sound  policy 
contained  in  the  pamphlets,  astonished  his  adversaries ;  and  the  princi 
pal  of  them  held  it  to  be  absurd  to  suppose  that  so  young  a  man  as 
HAMILTON  could  be  the  author.  He  was  thenceforward  cherished 
and  revered  by  the  whigs  of  New  York  as  an  oracle. 

The  war  had  now  commenced  in  Massachusetts  bay,  and  HAMIL 
TON,  young,  ardent,  and  intrepid,  was  among  the  earliest  of  his  fellow- 
citizens  to  turn  his  mind  to  the  military  service.  In  1775,  and  while  at 
college,  he  joined  a  volunteer  corps  of  militia  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
studied  the  details  of  military  tactics,  and  endeavored  to  reduce  them 
to  practice.  And  while  he  was  most  active  in  promoting  measures  of 
resistance,  he  was  busy  also  in  studying  the  science  of  political  eco 
nomy,  relative  to  commerce,  the  balance  of  trade,  and  the  circulating 
medium ;  and  which  were  soon  to  become  prominent  topics  of  specula 
tion  under  the  new  aspects  of  social  and  political  organization,  of  which 
the  elements  were  then  forming.  In  checking  the  wild  spirit  of  mobs. 
he  showed  himself  equally  the  intrepid  advocate  of  freedom,  and  the 
enemy  of  all  popular  misrule  and  licentiousness. 

On  the  14th  March,  1776,  HAMILTON  was  appointed  captain  of  a 
provincial  company  of  artillery,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  in  that 
rank  he  was  soon  in  active  service,  and  brought  up  the  rear  of  the 
army  in  the  retreat  from  Long  Island.  He  was  in  the  action  at  White 
Plains,  on  the  28th  of  October,  1776,  and  by  that  time  his  character 
and  conduct  had  attracted  the  observing  eye  of  Washington.  He  was 
with  his  artillery  company,  firm  and  active,  in  the  retreat  through 
New  Jersey,  and  resisted  the  progress  of  the  British  troops  on  the 
banks  of  the  Raritan.  He  was  with  his  command  at  Trenton  and 
Princeton,  and  he  continued  in  the  army  until  the  1st  of  March,  1777, 
when  he  was  appointed  aid-de-camp  to  General  Washington,  with  the 
rank  of  lieutenant-colonel. 

Colonel  HAMILTON  remained  in  the  family  of  the  commander-in- 
chief  until  February,  1781,  and  during  that  long  and  eventful  period 
of  the  war,  he  was,  in  the  language  of  Washington  himself,  "  his 
principal  and  r«ost  conhdential  aid."  In  that  auspicious  station,  and 
in  the  very  general  intercourse  with  the  officers  of  the  army  and  the 
principal  men  of  the  country  which  it  created,  he  had  ample  opportu 
nities  to  diffuse  the  knowledge  of  his  talents  and  the  influence  of  his 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

accomplishments.  As  he  spoke  the  French  language  with  facility,  he 
oecame  familiar  with  the  officers  of  the  French  army  in  America,  and 
with  the  distinguished  foreign  officers  in  the  American  service.  He 
recommended  himself  to  their  confidence  by  his  kindness  and  his 
solicitude  to  serve  them  in  the  best  manner.  Their  attachment  and 
admiration  were  won  by  his  genius  and  the  goodness  and  frankness 
of  his  heart.  This  was  particularly  the  case  in  respect  to  the  Marquis 
Lafayette,  and  the  Baron  Steuben. 

The  principal  labor  of  the  correspondence  of  the  commander-in- 
chief  fell  upon  HAMILTON  ;  and  the  most  elaborate  communications 
of  that  kind  are  understood  to  have  been  made  essentially  with  his 
assistance.  In  November  1777,  he  was  deputed  by  Washington  to 
procure  from  General  Gates  at  Albany  reinforcements  of  troops,  which 
were  exceedingly  wanted  for  the  army  before  Howe  in  Philadelphia. 
His  object  was  to  obtain  the  three  continental  brigades,  then  under 
Gates,  and  without  any  northern  enemy  to  employ  them.  But  Gene 
ral  Gates  insisted  on  retaining  at  least  two  of  the  brigades,  and  would 
only  consent  to  part  with  the  weakest  of  the  three.  The  negotiation 
was  conducted  by  Colonel  HAMILTON  with  consummate  discretion ; 
and  without  having  recourse  to  the  absolute  authority  of  the  com- 
mander-in-chief,  he  overcame,  by  dint  of  argument,  the  unreasonable 
reluctance  and  dangerous  temper  of  insubordination  in  Gates,  and 
procured  the  march  to  head  quarters  of  two  of  the  brigades.  In  1778, 
the  accuracy  of  HAMILTON'S  judgment  was  tested  on  the  subject  of 
the  inspector-general  of  the  army,  and  in  the  appointment  of  Baron 
Steuben,  and  the  designation  of  his  powers  and  duties.  He  was  in 
the  same  year  intrusted  by  General  Washington  with  much  discre 
tion  respecting  a  general  exchange  of  prisoners  with  the  enemy ;  and 
he  was  very  efficient  and  most  happy  in  his  advice  in  favor  of  the 
attack  of  the  enemy  upon  their  retreat  through  New  Jersey,  in  June 
1778,  in  opposition  to  the  opinion  of  a  majority  of  a  council  of  war 
consulted  on  that  occasion.  The  determination  to  attack  led  on  to  the 
action  of  Monmouth,  in  which  fresh  honor  was  added  to  the  American 
arms.  Colonel  HAMILTON  was  that  day  in  the  field  under  the  Mar 
quis  Lafayette,  and  his  merit  was  very  conspicuous  in  the  activity, 
skill,  and  courage  which  he  displayed. 

The  finances  of  the  United  States  had  become  involved  in  great 
disorder,  and  the  enormous  issues  of  paper  currency  to  the  amount  of 
two  hundred  millions  of  dollars,  and  its  consequent  depreciation  almost 
to  wortnlessness,  had  prostrated  public  credit.  The  government  ano 
the  armvwere  reduced  to  the  greatest  difficulties  and  distress,  from  the 


ALEXANDER  HAMILTON. 

want  of  means  to  sustain  themselves,  and  support  the  war.  In  this 
extremity,  the  mind  of  Colonel  HAMILTON  was  turned  to  the  contem 
plation  of  the  subject,  and  the  means  of  relief.  He  was  led  on  to  trios*1 
profound  investigations  in  reference  to  the  complicated  subjects  of 
finance,  currency,  taxation,  and  the  fittest  means  to  restore  confidence, 
by  the  mastery  of  which  he  was  afterwards  destined  to  be  "the  founder 
of  the  public  credit  of  the  United  States."  In  1779,  he  addressed  a 
letter  to  Robert  Morris,  one  of  the  first  commercial  characters  of  the 
country,  giving  in  detail  his  plan  of  finance.  The  restoration  of  the 
depreciated  currency,  and  of  credit  and  confidence,  was  not  to  be 
effected  by  expedients  within  our  own  resources.  The  only  relief,  as 
he  declared,  was  to  be  sought  in  a  foreign  loan  to  the  extent  of  two 
millions  sterling,  assisted  by  a  vigorous  taxation,  and  a  bank  of  the 
United  States  to  be  instituted  by  congress  for  ten  years,  and  to  be  sup 
ported  by  the  foreign  as  well  as  by  domestic  loans  in  the  depreciated 
currency  at  a  very  depreciated  ratio.  This  institution  was  to  rest  on 
the  firm  footing  of  public  and  private  faith,  and  was  to  supply  the 
want  of  a  circulating  medium,  and  absorb  the  depreciated  paper,  and 
furnish  government  with  the  requisite  loans.  The  scheme  was  in 
part  adopted  in  June  1780,  by  the  voluntary  institution,  through  the 
agency  of  a  number  of  patriotic  individuals,  of  the  bank  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  and  which  received  the  patronage  of  congress.  Colonel  HA 
MILTON  looked  with  intense  anxiety  on  the  distresses  of  the  country, 
and  he  perceived  and  avowed  the  necessity  of  a  better  system  of 
government,  and  one  not  merely  advisory,  but  reorganized  on  founda 
tions  of  greater  responsibility,  and  more  efficiency.  He  addressed  a 
very  interesting  letter  to  Mr.  Duane,  a  member  of  congress  from  New 
York,  on  the  state  of  the  nation.  This  letter  appears  at  this  day, 
with'  all  the  lights  and  fruits  of  our  experience,  as  masterly  in  a  pre 
eminent  degree.  He  went  on  to  show  the  defects  and  total  ineffi 
ciency  of  the  articles  of  confederation,  and  to  prove  that  we  stood  in 
need  of  a  national  government,  with  the  requisite  sovereign  powers, 
such,  indeed,  as  the  confederation  theoretically  contained,  but  without 
any  fit  organs  to  receive  them.  He  suggested  the  idea  of  a  national 
convention  to  amend  and  reorganize  the  government.  This  was 
undoubtedly  the  ablest  and  truest  production  on  the  state  of  the  union, 
its  finances,  its  army,  its  miseries,  its  resources,  its  remedies,  that 
appeared  during  the  revolution.  It  contained  in  embryo  the  existing 
federal  constitution,  and  it  was  the  production  of  a  young  man  of  the 
age  f  twenty-three. 

In  October  1780,  HAMILTON  earnestly  recommended  to  General 

*  H2 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

Washington  the  selection  of  General  Greene,  for  the  command  of  the 
southern  army,  which  Gates  had  just  left  in  disorganization  and  scat 
tered  fragments.  He  had  early  formed  an  exalted  opinion  of  the 
merits  of  Greene,  and  entertained  unmeasured  confidence  in  his  mili 
tary  talents,  and  "whose  genius,"  as  he  said,  "carried  in  it  all  the 
resources  of  war."  In  December  1780,  he  married  the  second  daughter 
of  Major-General  Schuyler,  and  in  the  February  following,  he  retired 
from  the  family  of  General  Washington,  but  still  retained  his  rank  in 
the  army,  and  was  exceedingly  solicitous  to  obtain  a  separate  com 
mand  in  some  light  corps.  Being  relieved  from  the  active  duties 
imposed  upon  him  as  an  aid,  his  mind  became  thoroughly  engrossed 
with  the  situation  of  the  country,  which  was  in  every  view  replete 
with  difficulties,  and  surrounded  with  danger.  Public  credit  was 
hastening  to  an  irretrievable  catastrophe.  In  April  1781,  he  addressed 
a  letter  to  Mr.  Morris,  the  superintendant  of  finance,  on  the  state  of 
the  currency  and  finances,  and  he  transmitted  the  plan  of  a  national 
bank,  as  the  only  expedient  that  could  give  to  government  an  exten 
sive  and  sound  paper  credit,  and  as  being  essential  to  our  success  and 
safety.  He  reasoned  out  the  utility  and  policy  of  a  bank,  and  met 
and  answered  the  objections  to  it  with  a  force,  perspicuity,  and  conclu- 
s^eness,  that  swept  away  every  difficulty,  and  carried  with  it  almost 
universal  conviction.  The  plan  of  a  national  bank  was  submitted  to 
congress  by  Mr.  Morris,  in  May,  1781  and  they  adopted  it  with  great 
unanimity,  and  resolved  to  incorporate  and  support  it  under  the  name 
of  the  Bank  of  North  America.  That  institution,  with  the  incipient 
and  more  feeble  aid  of  the  bank  of  Pennsylvania,  then  in  operation, 
was  of  inestimable  service  in  restoring  and  sustaining  the  credit  of  the 
country;  in  bringing  forward  our  resources,  and  carrying  on  the 
operations  of  the  army  during  the  concluding  scenes  of  the  war. 

The  last  act  of  Colonel  HAMILTON'S  military  life,  was  at  the  siege 
of  Yorktown,  in  Virginia.  After  repeated  solicitations,  he  was  at  last 
gratified  with  the  command  of  a  corps  of  light  infantry,  attached  to 
the  division  under  the  command  of  his  friend,  the  Marquis  Lafayette, 
and  he  was  so  fortunate  as  to  be  able  to  lead  the  night  attack  by 
assault  of  one  of  the  enemy's  redoubts,  and  which  was  carried  with 
distinguished  rapidity  and  bravery.  This  event  was  the  consumma 
tion  of  his  wishes.  The  active  service  of  the  army  had  now  ended. 
He  immediately  turned  his  attention  to  the  duties  and  business  of  civil 
life  :  and  having  selected  the  profession  of  the  law,  he  fitted  himself  for 
admission,  in  1782,  to  the  bar  of  the  supreme  court  of  New  York  with 
surprising  facility,  and  with  high  credit  to  his  industry  and  research. 


ALEXANDER  HAMILTON. 

The  country  being  about  to  settle  down  in  peace,  our  civil  govern 
ment  became  the  primary  object  of  attention  to  reflecting  statesmen. 
The  defects  of  the  confederation  had  grown  to  be  prominent  and 
glaring.  The  machine  had  become  languid  and  worthless,  and 
especially  after  the  extraordinary  energy  and  enthusiasm  of  the  war- 
spirit,  which  had  once  animated  it,  had  been  withdrawn.  In  the 
winter  of  1781-2,  Mr.  HAMILTON  wrote  a  number  of  anonymous 
essays  in  the  country  papers  in  New  York,  under  the  signature  of  the 
Continent alist,  in  which  he  went  largely  into  an  examination  of  the 
defects  of  the  confederation,  and  into  an  enumeration  of  the  powers 
with  which  it  ought  to  be  clothed.  In  the  summer  of  1782,  he  was 
appointed  by  the  legislature  of  New  York,  a  delegate  to  congress. 
The  same  legislature  that  appointed  him  unanimously  passed  resolu 
tions,  introduced  into  the  senate  by  General  Schuyler,  declaring  that 
the  confederation  was  defective  in  not  giving  to  congress  power  to 
provide  a  revenue  for  itself,  or  in  not  investing  them  with  funds  from 
established  and  productive  sources ;  and  that  it  would  be  advisable 
for  congress  to  recommend  to  the  states  to  call  a  general  convention 
to  revise  and  amend  the  confederation/ 

Colonel  HAMILTON  took  his  seat  in  congress,  in  November,  1782, 
and  continued  there  until  the  autumn  of  1783,  and  the  proceedings 
of  congress  immediately  assumed  a  new  and  more  vigorrus  tone  and 
character.  He  became  at  once  engaged  in  measures  calculated  to 
relieve  the  embarrassed  state  of  the  public  finances,  and  avert  the 
dangers  which  beset  the  union  of  the  states.  His  efforts  to  reanimate 
the  power  of  the  confederation,  and  to  infuse  some  portion  of  life  and 
vigor  into  the  system,  so  as  to  render  it  somewhat  adequate  to  the 
exigencies  of  the  nation,  were  incessant.  He  was  sustained  in  all  his 
views,  by  that  great  statesman,  the  superintendant  of  finance,  and  by 
some  superior  minds  in  congress,  and  especially  by  Mr.  Madison, 
whose  talents,  enlightened  education,  and  services,  were  of  distin 
guished  value  in  that  assembly.  On  the  6th  of  December,  1782,  he 
moved  and  carried  a  resolution  that  the  superintendant  of  finance 
represent  to  the  legislatures  of  the  several  states,  the  indispensable 


*The  illustrious  HAMILTON  was  described  by  Talleyrand,  who  asserted  that  the  greatest 
sight  he  had  ever  beheld  in  this  country  was  seeing  HAMILTON,  with  his  pile  of  books 
under  his  amis,  proceeding  to  the  court  room  in  the  Old  City  Hall  of  New  York,  in  order 
to  obtain  a  livelihood,  by  expounding  the  law,  and  vindicating  the  rights  of  his  clients 
Let  the  ignorant  and  vain  say  what  they  please,  here  is  true  greatness! 

7 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

necessity  of  complying-  with  the  requisitions  of  congress,  for  raising 
specified  sums  of  money  towards  sustaining  the  expenses  of  govern 
ment,  and  paying  a  year's  interest  on  the  domestic  debt.  On  the  llth 
of  the  same  month,  he  was  chairman  of  the  committee  which  reported 
the  form  of  an  application  to  the  governor  of  Rhode  Island,  urging 
in  persuasive  terms,  the  necessity  and  reasonableness  of  the  concur 
rence  on  the  part  of  that  state,  in  a  grant  to  congress  of  a  general 
import  duty  of  five  per  cent.,  in  order  to  raise  a  fund  to  discharge  the 
national  debt.  It  contained  the  assurance  that  the  increasing  discon 
tents  of  the  army,  the  loud  clamors  of  the  public  creditors,  and  the 
extreme  disproportion  between  the  annual  supplies  and  the  demands 
of  the  public  service,  were  invincible  arguments  in  favor  of  that  source 
of  relief;  and  that  calamities  the  most  menacing  might  be  anticipated 
if  that  expedient  should  fail.  So  again  on  the  16th  of  December,  he 
was  chairman  of  the  committee  that  made  a  report  of  a  very  superior 
character  in  vindication  of  the  same  measure.  On  the  20th  of  March, 
1783,  Mr.  HAMILTON  submitted  to  congress  another  plan  of  a  duty 
of  five  per  cent.,  ad  valorem,  on  imported  goods,  for  the  discharge  of 
the  army  debt.  On  the  22d  of  that  month,  he  again,  as  chairman, 
reported  in  favor  of  a  grant  of  five  years'  full  pay  to  the  officers  of  the 
army,  as  a  commutation  for  the  half  pay  for  life  which  had  some 
time  before  been  promised  by  congress.  On  the  24th  of  April  follow 
ing,  he,  as  one  of  the  committee,  agreed  to  the  report  which  Mr. 
Madison  drew  and  reported  as  chairman,  containing  an  address  to 
the  states  in  recommendation  of  the  five  per  cent,  duty ;  a  document 
equally  replete  with  clear  and  sound  reasoning,  and  manly  and  elegant 
exhortation. 

If  such  a  series  of  efforts  to  uphold  the  authority  and  good  faith  of 
the  nation  failed  at  the  time,  yet  HAMILTON  and  the  other  members 
of  congress  who  partook  of  his  fervor  and  patriotism,  had  the  merit, 
at  least,  of  preserving  the  honor  of  congress,  while  every  other  attri 
bute  of  power  was  lost.  There  are  other  instances  on  record  in  the 
journals  of  that  memorable  session,  in  which  Colonel  HAMILTON  was 
foremost  to  testify  national  gratitude  for  services  in  the  field,  and  to 
show  a  lively  sense  of  the  sanctity  of  national  faith.  He  was  chair 
man  of  the  committee  which  reported  resolutions  honorable  to  the 
character  and  services  of  Baron  Steuben ;  and  he  introduced  a  resolu 
tion  calling  upon  the  states  to  remove  every  legal  obstruction  under 
their  ocal  jurisdictions  in  the  way  of  the  entire  and  faithful  execution 
of  the  treaty  of  peace.  His  seat  in  congress  expired  at  the  end  of  the 
yeur  1^83  ;  but  his  zeal  for  the  establishment  of  a  national  government 


ALEXANDER  HAMILTON. 

competent  to  preserve  us  from  insult  abroad  and  degradatioi  and 
dissension  at  home,  and  fitted  to  restore  credit,  to  protect  liberty  and 
to  cherish  and  display  our  resources,  kept  increasing  in  inteisity. 
His  statesman -like  views  became  more  and  more  enlarged  and  compre 
hensive,  and  the  action  of  his  mind  more  rapid,  as  we  approached  the 
crisis  of  our  destiny. 

On  the  recovery  of  New  York  in  the  autumn  of  1783,  Mr.  HAMIL 
TON  assumed  the  practice  of  the  law ;  but  his  mind  was  still  deeply 
occupied  with  discussions  concerning  the  public  welfare.  In  the 
winter  of  1784,  his  pamphlet  productions  under  the  signature  of 
Phocion,  and  addressed  "  to  the  considerate  citizens  of  New  York," 
excited  very  great  interest.  Their  object  was  to  check  the  intempe 
rate  spirit  which  prevailed  on  the  recovery  of  the  city  of  New  York ; 
to  vindicate  the  constitutional  and  treaty  rights  of  all  classes  of  per 
sons  inhabiting  the  southern  district  of  New  York,  then  recently 
recovered  from  the  enemy's  possession;  and  to  put  a  stop  to  every  kind 
of  prescriptive  policy  and  legislative  disabilities,  as  being  incompatible 
with  the  treaty  of  peace,  the  spirit  of  whiggism,  the  dictates  of  policy, 
and  the  voice  of  law  and  justice.  His  appeal  to  the  good  sense 
and  patriotism  of  the  public  was  not  made  in  vain.  The  force  of  plain 
truth  carried  his  doctrines  along  against  the  stream  of  prejudice,  and 
overcame  every  obstacle. 

Colonel  HAMILTON  had  scarcely  began  to  display  his  great  powers 
as  an  advocate  at  the  bar,  when  he  was  again  called  into  public  life. 
He  was  elected  a  member  of  assembly  for  the  city  of  New  York,  in 
1786,  and  in  the  ensuing  session  he  made  several  efforts  to  surmount 
the  difficulties,  and  avert  the  evils,  which  encompassed  the  country. 
The  state  of  Vermont  was  in  fact  independent,  but  she  was  not  in  the 
confederacy.  His  object  was  to  relieve  the  nation  from  such  a  peril, 
and  he  introduced  a  bill  into  the  house  of  assembly  renouncing  juris 
diction  over  that  state,  and  preparing  the  way  for  its  admission  into 
the  union.  His  proposition  was  ably  resisted  by  counsel,  heard  at  the 
bar  of  the  house,  and  acting  on  beha)f  of  claimants  of  lands  in  Ver 
mont,  under  grant  from  New  York.  Mr.  HAMILTON  promptly  met 
and  answered  the  objections  to  the  bill  with  his  usual  ability  anc 
familiar  knowledge  of  the  principles  of  public  law.  In  the  same  ses 
sion  he  made  bold  but  unavailing  efforts  to  prop  up  and  sustain  the 
tottering  fa,bric  of  the  confederation,  and  the  prostrate  dignity  and 
powers  of  congress.  His  motion  and  very  distinguished  speech  in  favor 
of  the  grant  to  congress  of  an  import  duty  of  five  per  cent.,  was 
voted  down  in  silence  without  attempting  an  answer.  But  a  new  era 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

was  commencing.  The  clouds  began  to  disperse,  and  the  hoiizon 
was  soon  seen  to  kindle  and  glow  with  the  approaches  of  a  brighter 
day.  HAMILTON  was  destined  to  display  the  rich  fruits  of  his  reflec 
tion  and  experience,  and  his  entire  devotedness  to  his  country's  cause 
in  a  more  exalted  sphere.  In  the  same  session  he  was  appointed  one  of 
the  three  New  York  delegates  to  the  general  convention,  recommended 
by  congress  to  be  held  at  Philadelphia,  in  May,  1787,  to  revise  and 
amend  the  articles  of  confederation. 

His  services  in  that  convention  were  immensely  valuable.  All 
contemporary  information  confirms  it.  His  object  \vas  to  make  the 
experiment  of  a  great  federative  republic,  moving  in  the  largest  sphere, 
and  resting  entirely  on  a  popular  basis,  as  complete,  satisfactory,  and 
decisive  as  possible,  in  favor  of  civil  liberty,  public  security  and 
national  greatness.  He  considered  the  best  interests  of  mankind;  and 
the  character  of  free  and  popular  institutions,  as  being  deeply,  and 
perhaps  finally,  involved  in  the  result.  Experimental  propositions 
were  made  in  the  convention,  and  received  as  suggestions  for  con 
sideration.  The  highest  toned  proposition  which  he  ever  made,  was 
that  the  president  and  senate  should  be  elected  by  electors  chosen  by 
the  people,  and  that  they  as  well  as  the  judges  should  hold  their  offices 
during  good  behavior,  and  that  the  house  of  representatives  should 
be  elected  triennially.  His  opinions  essentially  changed  during  the 
progress  of  the  discussions,  and  he  became  satisfied  that  it  would  be 
dangerous  to  the  public  tranquillity,  to  elect  by  popular  election  a 
chief  magistrate  with  so  permanent  a  tenure ;  and  towards  the  close 
of  the  convention,  his  subsequent  plan  gave  to  the  office  of  president 
a  duration  of  only  three  years. 

When  the  constitution  adopted  by  the  convention  was  submitted  to 
the  consideration  of  the  American  people,  Mr.  HAMILTON,  in  associa 
tion  with  Mr.  Jay  and  Mr.  Madison,  commenced  a  series  of  essays 
under  the  signature  of  Publius,  in  explanation  and  vindication  of  the 
principles  of  the  government.  Those  essays  compose  the  two  Volumes 
of  that  celebrated  and  immortal  work  "  The  Federalist."  Several 
numbers  appeared  successively  every  week  in  the  New  York  papers, 
between  October,  1787,  and  the  spring  of  1788.  The  whole  work 
consists  of  eighty-five  numbers.  Mr.  Jay  wrote  five,  Mr.  Madison 
upwards  of  twenty,  and  Mr.  HAMILTON  the  residue.  The  value  of 
the  union,  the  incompetency  of  the  articles  of  confederation  to  pre 
serve  it.  and  the  necessity  of  a  government  organized  upon  the 
priricipbs,  and  clothed  with  the  powers,  of  the  one  presented  to  the 
public,  were  topics  discussed  with  a  talent,  force,  information,  skill. 

10 


ALEXANDER   HAMILTON. 

and  eloquence,  to  which  we  had  not  been  accustomed.  Mr.  H AMI  I/TON 
was  also  a  member  of  the  New  York  state  convention,  which  met  at 
Poughkeepsie  in  June,  1788.  That  convention  was  composed  of 
many  distinguished  individuals  of  great  weight  of  character.  Most 
of  them  had  been  disciplined  in  the  varied  services  of  the  revolution. 
But  as  Mr.  HAMILTON  had  been  a  leading  member  of  the  national  con 
vention,  anil  had  signed  the  instrument  before  them,  he  felt  and  nobh 
sustained  the  weight  of  the  responsibility  attached  to  his  situation 
and  as  he  had  been  also  a  leading  writer  in  the  Federalist,  his  mind 
was  familiar  with  the  principles  of  the  constitution,  and  with  every 
topic  of  debate.  The  wisdom  of  the  commentator  was  displayed 
and  enforced  by  the  eloquence  of  the  orator.  He  was  prompt,  ardent, 
energetic,  and  overflowing  with  an  exuberance  of  argument  and 
illustration. 

After  the  constitution  had  been  adopted  by  the  requisite  number 
of  states,  it  went  into  operation  in  the  course  of  the  year  1789  ;  and 
when  the  treasury  department  was  established,  Colonel  HAMILTON 
was  appointed  secretary  of  the  treasury.  He  remained  in  that  office 
upwards  of  five  years,  and  resigned  it  in  January,  1795,  after  having 
built  up  and  placed  on  sound  foundations  the  fiscal  concerns  of  the 
nation  confided  to  his  care,  so  as  to  leave  to  his  successors  little  more 
to  do  than  to  follow  his  precepts,  and  endeavor  to  shine  by  the  imita 
tion  of  his  example.  His  great  duty  consisted  in  devising  and  recom 
mending  a  suitable  provision  for  the  gradual  restoration  of  public 
credit  and  the  faithful  discharge  of  the  national  debt.  His  reports  as 
secretary,  mads  under  the  direction  of  the  house  of  representatives, 
were  so  many  didactic  dissertations,  laboriously  wrought  and  highly 
finished,  on  some  of  the  most  difficult  and  complicated  subjects  in  the 
science  of  political  economy.  Among  those  reports,  the  most  interesting 
were,  first,  his  report  of  January,  1790,  on  a  provision  for  the  support 
of  public  credit,  in  which  he  showed  the  necessity  of  funding  the 
public  debt ;  the  inexpedience  of  discrimination  between  original  and 
present  holders  of  it ;  and  the  expediency  of  assuming  the  state  debt. 
Second,  his  report  of  December,  1790,  on  the  establishment  of  a 
national  bank,  in  which  he  demonstrated  that  it  was  within  the  reach 
of  the  legitimate  powers  of  the  government,  and  essential  to  the  con 
venient  and  prosperous  administration  of  the  national  finances.  His 
reasoning  was  *o  clear  and  cogent,  that  it  carried  the  measure  tri 
umphantly  through  congress ;  notwithstanding  the  objections  of  Mr. 
Jefferson  in  the  executive  cabinet,  he  satisfied  the  cautious  and  solid 
judgment  of  Washington.  Third,  his  report  of  December,  1791,  on 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

the  subject  of  domestic  manufactures.  This  was  one  of  his  most 
elaborate  reports,  equally  distinguished  for  knowledge  and  strength  ; 
and  he  seems  not  to  have  entertained  a  doubt,  either  of  the  constitu 
tional  right  of  congress  to  exercise  its  sound  discretion  on  the  subject 
or  of  the  wisdom  of  the  legislative  encouragement  of  them  in  particu 
lar  cases.  Fourth,  his  report  of  January,  1795,  on  a  plan  for  the 
further  support  of  public  credit.  In  his  view,  the  true  principle  to 
render  public  credit  immortal,  was  to  accompany  the  creation  of  debt 
with  the  means  of  extinguishing  it  j  and  he  recommended  a  provision 
for  augmenting  the  sinking  fund,  so  as  to  render  it  commensurate  with 
the  entire  debt  of  the  United  States.  By  these  financial  measures 
which  he  had  the  honor  to  suggest  and  recommend,  he  enabled  his 
country  to  feel  and  develope  its  immense  resources ;  and  under  his 
administration  public  credit  was  awakened  from  death  unto  life,  and 
rose  with  fair  proportions  and  gigantic  strength,  so  as  to  engage  the 
attention  and  command  the  confidence  of  Europe.  In  connection 
with  these  splendid  results,  the  integrity  and  simplicity  with  which  he 
conducted  his  department,  and  which  the  most  jealous  and  penetrating 
inquisition  into  all  the  avenues  of  his  office  could  never  question, 
forms  with  posterity  one  of  his  fairest  titles  to  fame. 

While  Colonel  HAMILTON  presided  over  the  treasury  department, 
the  French  revolution  burst  forth  with  destructive  violence,  and 
brought  on  an  embittered  war  between  Great  Britain  and  the  French 
republic.  Being  a  member  of  President  Washington's  cabinet  council, 
Mr.  HAMILTON  was  one  of  the  advisers  of  the  proclamation  of  neu 
trality  in  April,  1793,  and  he  supported  it  by  his  vigorous  pen.  That 
proclamation  was  the  index  to  the  foreign  policy  of  Washington,  and 
it  was  temperately  but  firmly  maintained  against  the  intrigue  and 
insolence  of  the  French  minister  to  the  United  States,  and  against  all 
the  force  and  fury  of  the  turbulent  passions  of  the  times,  engendered 
and  inflamed  by  the  French  democracy.  He  aided  the  American 
policy  of  neutrality  in  some  fugitive  pieces  under  the  signature  No 
Jacobin,  and  in  the  more  elaborate  essays  of  Pacificus,  and  vastly 
more  so  by  his  advice  in  favor  of  the  timely  mission  of  Chief  Justice 
Jay,  as  minister  extraordinary  to  Great  Britain,  in  the  spring  of  1794. 

After  Colonel  HAMILTON'S  return  to  private  life  and  to  the  practice 
of  his  profession  in  the  city  of  New  York,  he  felt  himself  called  upon 
by  a  sense  of  duty  to  vindicate  the  justice  and  wisdom  of  Mr.  Jay's 
treaty,  which  had  adjusted  and  extinguished  the  complaints  and  diffi 
culties  existing  between  the  two  nations.  This  he  did  in  a  series 
of  essays  under  the  signature  of  Camillus,  in  the  summer  of  1795 


ALEXANDER  HAMILTON. 

They  were  profound  and  exhausting  commentaries  on  particular 
branches  of  public  law,  and  sustained  with  great  ability  and  a  tho 
rough  knowledge  of  the  subject,  the  grounds  on  which  our  treaty  and 
neutral  claims  and  commercial  interests  had  been  ascertained  and 
adjusted. 

On  reassuming  his  profession,  Colonel  HAMILTON  entered  at  once 
into  an  overwhelming  share  of  professional  business.  He  was  a  great 
favorite  with  the  New  York  merchants ;  and  he  justly  deserved  to  be 
so,  for  he  had  uniformly  proved  himself  to  bean  enlightened,  intrepid, 
and  persevering  friend  to  the  commercial  prosperity  of  the  country. 
He  was  a  great  master  of  commercial  law,  as  well  as  of  the  principles 
of  international  jurisprudence.  There  were  no  deep  recesses  of  the 
science  which  he  did  not  explore.  He  would  occasionally  draw  from 
the  fountains  of  the  civil  law,  and  illustrate  and  enforce  the  enlight 
ened  decisions  of  Mansfield,  by  the  severe  judgment  of  Emerigon,  and 
the  lucid  commentaries  of  Valin.  In  short,  he  conferred  dignity  and 
high  reputation  on  the  profession,  of  which  he  was  indisputably  the 
first  of  the  first  rank,  by  his  indefatigable  industry,  his  thorough 
researches,  his  logical  powers,  his  solid  judgment,  his  winning  candor, 
and  his  matchless  eloquence. 

In  the  spring  of  1798,  he  was  involved  once  more  in  political  dis 
cussion.  The  depredations  of  France  upon  our  commerce,  and  the 
insults  heaped  upon  our  ministers,  left  to  this  country  no  alternative 
but  open  and  determined  resistance.  At  that  crisis  Mr.  HAMILTON 
published  a  number  of  essays  in  the  New  York  papers  under  the  sig 
nature  of  Titus  ManliuSj  with  a  view  to  rouse  the  people  of  this 
country  to  a  sense  of  impending  danger,  and  to  measures  of  defence 
which  should  be  at  once  vigorous  and  effectual.  No  productions  of 
any  pen  ever  portrayed  in  more  just  and  more  glowing  colors,  the 
atrocities  of  revolutionary  France  towards  her  own  people,  and 
towards  other  nations,  under  the  impetus  of  unprincipled  ambition 
and  ruthless  fanaticism.  He  suggested  that  we  ought  to  suspend  our 
treaties  with  France,  fortify  our  harbors,  protect  our  commerce,  attack 
their  predatory  cruisers  on  our  coast,  create  a  respectable  naval  force, 
and  raise,  organize,  and  discipline  a  respectable  body  of  troops,  as  an 
indispensable  precaution  against  attempts  at  invasion.  The  facts  were 
so  undeniable,  and  the  conclusions  so  just,  that  in  the  summer  of  1798, 
all  those  precautionary  and  necessary  measures  were  literally  carried 
into  execution  by  congress,  arid  received  the  prompt  and  hearty  sanc 
tion  of  the  nation.  At  the  earnest  recommendation  of  General  Wash- 
is  VOL.  2— I 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

ington,  HAM/LTON  was  appointed  inspector-general  of  the  small 
provincial  army  that  was  raised  in  that  year. 

That  public  trust  did  not  detach  him  from  his  profession,  nor  long 
detain  him  from  its  duties.  He  continued  his  devoted  ness  to  the  bar 
during  the  short  residue  of  his  life.  In  the  winter  of  1804,  Colonel 
Burr  was  proposed  at  Albany  as  a  candidate  for  governor.  General 
HAMILTON,  at  a  public  meeting  of  persons  belonging  to  the  fedeial 
party,  decidedly  objected  to  the  nomination,  declaring  that  he  deemed 
Colonel  Burr  an  unsafe  and  unfit  person  to  be  placed  in  such  a  trust, 
and  that  he  would  never  unite  with  his  party  on  such  a  candidate. 
Declarations  of  that  kind  made  on  public  and  patriotic  grounds,  and 
when  it  was  his  ri^ht  and  his  duty  to  make  them  if  he  thought  so, 
(and  of  which  no  one  doubted,)  cost  him  his  life.  In  the  summer  fol 
lowing,  after  Colonel  Burr  had  lost  the  election,  he  deemed  it  expedient 
to  call  General  HAMILTON  personally  to  account  for  what  he  had 
said.  The  latter  very  mistakingly  thought  it  necessary  to  meet  his 
antagonist  in  the  field.  He  fell  on  the  12th  July,  1804,  and  all  Ame 
rica  mourned  over  the  fate  of  such  an  innocent  and  illustrious  victim. 

A  simple  fact  is  often  highly  illustrative  of  character.  When  Hopkins, 
the  publisher  of  "  The  Federalist,"  proposed  to  republish  the  papers 
he  had  written  in  it,  saying  "They  are  demanded  by  the  spirit  of  the 
times  and  the  desire  of  the  people,"  HAMILTON  replied,  "  Do  you 
really  think,  Mr.  Hopkins,  that  those  fugitive  essays  will  be  read  if 
reprinted  ?  Well,  give  me  a  few  days  to  consider."  "  Will  not  this 
be  a  good  opportunity,  General  HAMILTON,"  rejoined  Hopkins,  "  to 
revise  them,  and  if  so,  to  make,  perhaps  alterations,  in  some  parts,  if 
necessary  ?"  "  No,  sir,  if  reprinted,  they  must  stand  exactly  as  at  first, 
not  a  word  of  alteration.  A  comma  may  be  inserted  or  left  out,  but 
the  work  must  undergo  no  change  whatever." 

A  few  days  had  elapsed,  when,  on  the  next  interview,  General 
HAMILTON  agreed  to  the  reprint,  with  the  express  condition  that  he 
himself  must  inspect  the  revised  proofs.  Not  a  word  was  ever  altered. 
"  You  think  something  of  the  papers?"  said  HAMILTON  to  the  printer. 
"Mr.  Hopkins,  let  them  be  issued.  Heretofore,  sir,  I  have  given  the 
people  common  milk  ;  hereafter,  shortly,  sir,  I  shall  give  them  strong 
meat."  Alas,  that  death  prevented  the  execution  of  his  purpose  ! 


,  I  V  E  R    II. 


THE  siiccoss  of  our  'ia^.,i  w  -<-&r*  with  I 
strij  ;n  ?}jf-  w.ti» 

'  ;««JT  nation  than  a  hund<x-<i 

tight  have  l> 

ttiM 

their  countrymen,  and  who  should  be  ground 

as  separated  for  distinction  in  our  biography.     From  , 

we  have  selected,  for  this  number  of  our  work,  a  name  dear  to  all 

who  have  ni  hmrt  ti  .  >r.  • 

OLIVER  HAZARD  JVaav  vnts.btH?*  »t  V  \vport  in  August,  1/85. 
'fc  by  h,    i  a'jer,  then  in  the  service 

•M  i  ,<>s      \l*  WH*  encetvd  a  ;  >an  on  board  of 


whic  observances  of  gi 

court  >se  are  truly  ea 

fame,  and   shou!-J    h»  ^s   of  promise   as 

present  value. 

Midshipman  PERRY  was  HJ  ??-r  'J \npoli tan  war,  and  s 
affection  and  respect  of  all  th*  orficers  and  men  in  the 
By  seizing  every  opportunity  to  gain  information,  and  s 
all  that  he  was  desirous  of  hoin^  m-.!'  •  r«-i  -A\  cl  ft%ac 
occasion  to  instruct,  he  became,  very  early  m  Htv\  -i-  ao 
navigator  and  seaman. 

In  1810.  he  was  a  lieutenant  comma r»«.^uit  in  the  sel 
venge.  a  vessel  attached  to  the  squadron  o.'/Jt-r  Cmnmndo 
at  New  London,  and  employed  in  I,or»£  Ivtatid  Sound  to 
fractions  of  the  embargo  laws.     In  this  vessel,  in  tlie  sprii 
he  was  wrecked  in  a  fog  near  Stonuigfton.     He  demanded 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

inquiry  on  his  conduct.  The  court  acquitted  him  of  all  blame,  and 
reported  that  it  was  owing  to  his  coolness  and  intrepidity  that  the 
guns  and  other  property,  with  the  crew  of  the  Revenge,  were  saved. 
Such  a  misfortune  often  tries  an  officer's  character  more  than  several 
ordinary  battles. 

The  nation  uot  only  responded  to  the  report  of  the  court  of  in 
quiry,  but  Mr.  Secretary  Hamilton  wrote  Lieutenant  PERRY  a  very 
complimentary  letter  on  his  admirable  conduct  under  the  calamity. 
It  is  seldom  that  an  officer  gains  by  his  misfortunes,  but  this  was 
distinctly  the  case  with  PERRY. 

This  time  of  peace  and  restrictive  system  was  trying  to  our  naval 
commanders ;  they  hated  to  be  made  spies  upon  smugglers,  and 
overseers  of  little  matters ;  and  many  of  them  resigned  their  com 
missions. 

In  1812,  Lieutenant  PERRY  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  master 
and  commander,  and  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  gunboats  in 
the  harbor  of  New  York ;  but  he  was  soon  disgusted  with  this  ser 
vice,  for  it  was  dull  and  inactive,  and  did  not  afford  any  chance  ol 
gaining  distinction,  or  of  improvement  in  naval  tactics.  Every 
sailor  underbills  command  imbibed  the  same  impressions  ;  and  when, 
at  his  solicitations,  he  was  ordered  to  Lake  Ontario  to  reinforce  Com 
modore  Chauncey,  his  men  volunteered  to  go  with  him.  On  his 
arrival  at  Sackett's  Harbor,  Commodore  Chauncey  ordered  PERRY  to 
Lake  Erie  to  superintend  the  building  of  vessels,  in  order  to  meet 
the  force  the  British  had  on  those  waters.  He  commenced  his  labors 
with  extraordinary  z6al,  and  gave  animation  to  every  heart  and  hand 
engaged  in  increasing  the  naval  power  on  Lake  Erie.  On  the  4th 
of  August  he  got  his  squadron  over  the  bar,  and  swept  into  the  deep 
waters  of  the  lake.  The  enemy  did  not  molest  him  while  in  this 
unpleasant  situation,  although  they  were  daily  watching  his  move 
ments.  He  sailed  in  pursuit  of  the  squadron,  but  soon  returned,  not 
being  able  to  meet  them.  Being  reinforced  by  a  considerable  num 
ber  of  men,  on  the  12th  he  sailed  again ;  on  the  15th  he  arrived  at 
Sandusky  ;  then  cruised  about  Maiden,  and  offered  battle  to  the 
enemy's  fleet  at  anchor  under  the  guns  of  the  fort,  but  the  challenge 
was  not  accepted. 

On  the  10th  of  September  the  American  squadron  were  lying  at 
Put-in-Bay ;  at  sunrise  the  British  squadron  were  discovered  by  PERRY, 
making  towards  him.  PERRY'S  force  was  two  twenty-gun  brigs,  and 
several  small  vessels,  carrying  in  all  fifty-four  guns,  and  manned  with- 
about  six  hundred  persons;  sailors,  landsmen,  and  boys.  The  British 


OLIVER   II.  PERRY. 

force  was  superior  in  men  and  metal,  being  six  vessels,  cairying 
sixty-three  guns.  At  eleven  o'clock,  A.  M.,  the  British  were  formed 
in  line  of  battle ;  but  the  wind  now  changing,  PERRY  had  an  oppor 
tunity  to  bear  down  upon  them  as  he  chose.  The  commodore,  in 
the  Lawrence,  led.  From  her  mast  head  was  displayed  the  last 
words  of  the  gallant  Captain  Lawrence,  who  fell  in  the  action 
between  the  Chesapeake  and  Shannon :  "  Don't  give  up  the  ship." 
At  a  few  minutes  past  twelve,  the  British  commenced  firing,  and 
some  damage  was  done  to  the  Lawrence  before  PERRY  could  make 
his  short  guns  bear  upon  the  enemy.  At  length  he  opened  his 
battery,  and  stood  the  fire  of  the  enemy's  force  for  two  hours.  The 
other  part  of  his  own  fleet  did  not  come  to  his  assistance.  The 
Lawrence  was  become  unmanageable ;  her  decks  were  strewed  with 
the  dead ;  her  guns  were  dismounted.  At  this  moment  PERRY 
conceived  a  bold  and  most  admirable  design.  It  was  no  sooner  con 
ceived  than  it  was  put  in  execution.  Giving  the  command  of  the 
Lawrence  to  Lieutenant  Yarnell,  he  took  his  flag  under  his  arm, 
jumped  into  his  boat,  and  amidst  a  shower  of  shot  made  his  way 
to  the  Niagara,  the  second  ship  of  his  squadron.  He  went  off  from 
the  Lawrence  standing  up  in  his  boat ;  but  the  seamen,  seeing  how 
much  he  was  exposed,  seized  him  with  affectionate  violence,  and 
pulled  him  down  to  a  seat.  His  flag  was  now  seen  flying  from  the 
mast  head  of  the  Niagara,  comparatively  a  fresh  ship.  This  was  a 
moment  full  of  peril.  The  youthful  hero  was  as  calm  as  adven 
turous.  He  brought  his  ship  in  a  position  to  break  the  enemy's  line 
of  battle.  He  gave  two  ships  a  raking  fire  with  his  starboard  guns, 
poured  a  broadside  into  a  schooner  from  his  larboard  tier,  and  lay 
his  ship  alongside  of  the  British  commodore.  The  effect  of  his  fire 
was  terrific,  and  the  enemy's  battery  was  silenced  in  a  very  short 
time.  The  small  American  vessels  were  soon  brought  up,  and  the 
contest  decided,  which  had  now  lasted  for  nearly  three  hours.  The 
enemy  was  not  only  entirely  subdued,  but  all  his  vessels  were  taken, 
and  brought  to  the  American  side  of  the  lake.  Never  did  a  warrior 

O 

fight  with  a  braver  or  more  skilful  foe.  Commodore  Barclay,  who 
commanded  the  British  squadron  on  that  day,  was  a  man  of  no 
ordinary  fame.  He  had  gained  laurels  at  the  battle  of  Trafalgar, 
and  other  sea-fights,  where  Englishmen  had  bled  and  won  the 
victory;  but  this  day  his  experience  did  not  avail  him  —  he  was 
forced  to  yield.  The  loss  was  great  on  both  sides,  but  much  more 
severe  on  the  part  of  the  British.  They  had  two  hundred  killed 
and  wounded:  (he  Americans  about  one  hundred  and  twenty-three 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

Commodore  Barclay  was  severely  wounded,  having  lost  his  remain 
ing  hand  in  the  fight ;  the  other  had  been  shot  off  in  some  previous 
battle. 

In  this  fight  PERRY'S  conduct  was  marked  with  skill,  bravery,  and 
perseverance.  He  omitted  nothing,  did  every  thing  he*  should  have 
done,  and  no  more.  He  was  as  humane  as  brave,  and  as  modest  as 
humane.  He  took  special  care  of  the  wounded  of  the  enemy,  as 
well  as  of  his  own  gallant  crews,  and  did  all  that  could  have  been 
done  to  assuage  the  wounds  of  person  and  of  feeling  of  Commodore 
Barclay,  while  he  was  a  prisoner  in  his  power. 

The  effects  of  his  victory  were  felt  in  every  part  of  the  country 
It  silenced  those  who  had  clamored  against  the  war,  and  who,  among 
other  things,  had  ventured  to  prognosticate  that  our  officers  could  not 
manage  a  fleet,  however  well  they  might  fight  a  single  ship.  Those 
arho  had  opposed  the  war  now  united  with  the  friends  of  it  in 
Tvreathing  garlands  for  our  victorious  seamen.  The  whole  story  had 
an  epic  effect,  national  pride  was  kindled  up,  and  the  people  in  every 
part  of  the  country  celebrated  the  victory  with  enthusiasm. 

For  this  action  PERRY  was  made  a  captain  in  the  navy,  and  re 
ceived  the  thanks  of  congress,  and  other  marks  of  distinction,  parti 
cularly  from  several  of  the  state  legislatures ;  but  he  did  not  repose 
upon  his  laurels,  or  rest  satisfied  with  what  he  had  done.  Finding 
no  more  hostile  fleets  to  subdue,  he  offered  himself  as  an  aid  to 
General  Harrison,  then  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy,  and  participated 
with  that  gallant  officer  in  his  dangers  and  honors  at  the  battle  of 
Moravian  Town,  on  the  5th  of  October  following  his  own  victory. 

The  president  of  the  United  States,  in  his  message  to  congress, 
speaks  of  the  conduct  of  Captain  PERRY  in  the  highest  terms  of 
praise,  as  reflecting  honor  on  this  nation ;  and  Mr.  Madison  was 
never  given  to  flattery. 

At  the  time  of  the  invasion  of  Virginia  and  Maryland  by  the 
British  under  General  Ross  and  Admiral  Cockburn,  Captain  PERRY 
had  a  command  on  the  Potomac,  but  not  in  sufficient  force  to  do  any 
thing  effective.  Washington  was  taken,  but  no  naval  officer  suffered 
any  diminution  of  his  fame  from  this  act ;  the  fault  must  rest  among 
others  if  there  was  any  fault  in  the  affair. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  war  Captain  PERRY  was  appointed  to  the 
command  of  the  Java,  a  frigate  of  the  first  class,  and  sailed  with 
Commodore  Decatur  to  chastise  the  Dey  of  Algiers,  who  had,  during 
cur  difficulties  with  Great  Britain,  thought  it  a  favorable  time  to 
plunder  our  commerce.  Decatur  reached  the  Mediterranean  in  June, 


OLIVER  H.  PERRY. 

1815,  and  in  a  few  days  captured  an  Algerine  frigate,  under  the 
command  of  Admiral  Reis  Hammida,  who  had  been  styled  "  The 
Terror  of  the  Seas"  Decatur  then  proceeded  to  Tunis  and  Tripoli, 
and  speedily  adjusted  matters  with  those  powers,  who  had  like 
wise  thought  it  a  favorable  time  to  make  unjust  demands  of  our 
government. 

After  PERRY  had  returned  to  the  United  States  from  the  Mediter 
ranean,  arid  while  the  Java  was  lying  at  Newport  in  midwinter, 
information  was  received  by  him  that  a  merchant  vessel  was  on  a 
reef,  about  five  or  six  miles  from  that  place,  and  that  the  crew  were 
still  on  the  wreck,  at  the  mercy  of  the  winds  and  waves.  He  manned 
his  barge,  and  said  to  his  rowers,  "  Come,  my  boys,  we  are  going  to 
the  relief  of  shipwrecked  seamen ;  pull  away."  They  returned  him 
a  look  of  fearless  determination,  which  seemed  to  say,  where  you  go 
we  go.  The  vessel  had  gone  to  pieces,  but  eleven  men  were  on  her 
quarter  deck,  which  had  separated  from  the  hull  of  the  vessel,  and 
was  floating  as  a  raft  on  the  billows.  This  act  may  not  be  thought 
to  belong  to  the  class  of  heroic  deeds  by  some,  who  are  attracted  only 
by  the  blaze  of  military  glory ;  but  the  great  mass  of  his  countrymen 
declared  that  he  was  as  deserving  of  the  civic  as  of  the  naval  crown. 

Such  a  man  as  PERRY  could  not  be  idle;  and  in  1819  he  was 
sent  in  the  John  Adams  to  the  West  India  station,  with  sealed  orders. 
He  had  the  command  of  the  squadron  on  that  station.  It  was  a 
command  of  importance,  for  pirates  had  swarmed  in  that  vicinity, 
and  not  only  vexed  our  commerce,  but  had  committed  murders  of 
'he  most  horrid  character.  The  utmost  vigilance  and  energy  were 
'^cessary,  but  he  was  not  long  to  be  the  guardian  of  those  seas. 
The  yellow  fever  was  in  the  squadron,  and  of  this  disease  he  died 
on  the  23d  of  August,  1820,  just  as  his  ship  was  entering  a  port  in 
Trinidad.  Thus  perished,  in  the  prime  of  life,  and  in  the  midst  of 
usefulness,  one  of  the  most  gallant  officers  of  this  or  any  other 
country.  He  was  buried  on  the  24th,  with  military  honors. 

When  his  death  was  made  known  in  the  United  States,  eveiy 
tribute  of  national  grief  was  paid  to  his  memory.  The  congress  of 
the  United  States  made  a  liberal  provision  for  his  family,  including 
his  mother,  who  was  leaning  on  him  for  support.  A  republic  is  now 
and  then  grateful. 

Commodore  PERRY  had  early  in  life  married  a  daughter 
of  Doctor  Mason,  of  Newport,  and  was  happy  in  his  domestic 
ties.  He  was  a  man  of  splendid  talents,  of  great  tact  in  his  pro 
fession,  and  every  way  fitted  for  a  great  naval  commander.  His 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

intrepidity  was  at  the  same  time  constitutional  and  acquired.  He 
had  in  his  youth  contemplated  the  beau  ideal  of  a  naval  hero — a 
model  of  his  own  creation — whose  elements  were  formed  from  all 
the  great  commanders,  from  Themistocles  to  Nelson ;  and  if  the 
Fates  were  kind,  he  intended  to  emulate  him ;  and  this  before  he  had 
heard  the  whistling  of  a  ball,  or  seen  one  drop  of  blood  shed  by 
contending  with  a  foe. 

In  his  whole  course  of  life  he  had  measured  means  in  relation  to 
ends.  He  never  ventured  upon  any  thing  that  was  not  feasible,  and 
of  course  seldom  acted  without  success.  His  mind  was  prolific,  but 
well  balanced.  He  never  was  swayed  from  his  purpose,  or  "  fright 
ened  from  his  propriety ;"  but  in  all  the  business  of  his  profession 
conducted  with  a  wisdom  and  gravity  beyond  his  years.  His  letters 
prove  that  he  could  write  with  taste  and  spirit,  and  had  a  sense  of 
honor  worthy  his  station  in  our  republic.  He  was  said  to  have  imi 
tated  Nelson  ;  but  every  great  man  is  like  some  distinguished  prede 
cessor.  There  is  a  similarity  in  mighty  minds,  whenever  or  wherever 
they  appear. 

In  person,  Commodore  PERRY  was  of  the  warrior  cast,  tall  and 
well  proportioned ;  yet  not  so  colossal  as  to  destroy  a  fine  symmetry 
of  limbs,  and  graceful  movement  of  body.  The  expression  of  his 
face  was  manly  and  intellectual,  with  a  greater  proportion  of  refine 
ment  than  is  often  found  in  the  countenances  of  sea-faring  men. 

The  remains  of  Commodore  PERRY  have  been  brought  to  his  native 
country,  and  buried  in  Newport.  The  legislature  of  Rhode  Island 
appropriated  a  sum  of  money  to  erect  a  monument  to  his  memory,  and 
this  has  been  done.  But  the  works  of  such  men  immortalize  them,  or 
even  if  for  awhile  their  names  are  forgotten,  the  results  they  produce 
tell  on  the  prosperity  of  their  country  from  age  to  age.  Dreadful 
might  the  results  "have  been,  if  in  our  early  history,  heroes  on  the 
land  and  the  sea  had  not  impressed  the  world  with  the  fact  that  while 
we  desire  no  more,  we  will  be  content  with  no  less  than  our  own. 


Engraved  Lr.IvVfellmore  i"ior.xa.RiinmJtv  G.i 


LED  SIEIIIPIPIlMoIL  )L  ffi)c 


EDWARD     SI 


IN  presenting  tin-  , 


his  IT 


. 

during  a  long  and  usefu 
of  February,  1729.     His  gra;; 

tleman  of  fortune  and  family,  in  the  county  of  York.  England;  and 
his  :  *1  to  An;-  --nut  the  yeai 

omoved  bout 

obtained 
1  led  him 


horn 

derived  Ir 
with  • 


i 


of  the  law 

attoniey-general  o  171 

prosecuted)'  two 

compl 

sary  ;  nor  indeed  are  our  American  youth  r 

instruction,  in  any  of  the   learned   prolossi 

mechanic  arts.    After  spending  two  years  in 

dissipated  pursuits,  but  in  the  acquirement  < 

profession  and  the  general  cultivation  of  Hi* 

admitted  a  barrister  of  the  Middle  T 

delp?iia,  to  commence  his  career  of  life,  and  enter  uj* 

a  lawyer  and  a  citizen.     He  was  *o  occupied,  \ 


m   the 

[ties  of 

of  our 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

revolution  interrupted  the  civil  pursuits  of  our  citizens,  and  sus 
pended,  more  or  less,  their  private  business. 

On  the  happy  conclusion  of  this  momentous  struggle,  the  depart 
ments  of  government,  as  well  as  the  occupations  of  the  people, 
returned  to  their  regular  action  and  course.  To  furnish  the  judiciary 
with  men  of  suitable  qualifications,  as  to  character  and  knowledge, 
was  obviously  an  object  of  primary  importance.  Professional  learn 
ing  and  moral  integrity  in  the  administration  of  the  laws,  were  indis 
pensable  to  secure  the  public  confidence  for  the  courts  of  justice ;  and 
in  seaching  for  them,  Mr.  SHIPPEN  could  not  be  overlooked.  He 
was  accordingly  appointed  president  of  the  court  of  common  pleas 
of  the  county  of  Philadelphia,  a  place  of  high  trust ;  and  was  also 
the  presiding  judge  of  the  court  of  quarter  sessions  for  the  city  and 
county.  These  appointments  were  made  under  the  constitution  of 
the  state,  adopted  in  1776.  A  more  perfect  organization  of  the 
judiciary  was  made  by  the  constitution  of  1790. 

In  1791,  Mr.  SHIPPEN  was  appointed  one  of  the  judges  of  the 
supreme  court,  whose  jurisdiction  extended  over  trie  whole  state, 
and  whose  duties  and  powers  called  for  the  highest  grade  of  profes 
sional  learning  and  talents,  as  well  as  of  personal  character  and 
public  confidence.  On  the  election  of  Chief  Justice  M'Kean  to  the 
executive  chair  of  the  commonwealth  in  1799,  Judge  SHIPPEN 
succeeded  him  on  the  bench,  and  was  appointed  Chief  Justice  by 
Governor  M'Kean,  who  was  perfectly  well  acquainted  with  the  quali 
fications  the  office  demanded,  and  with  the  fitness  of  the  person  he 
selected  for  it.  Chief  Justice  SHIPPEN  continued  to  perform  the 
duties  of  his  exalted  station  with  undiminished  ability,  and  unim 
paired  confidence  and  respect,  until  the  close  of  the  year  1805,  when 
the  infirmities  of  age,  he  being  then  nearly  seventy-seven  years  old, 
admonished  him  to  retire  to  repose.  A  few  months  after  his  resig 
nation  of  office,  on  the  sixteenth  day  of  April,  1806,  he  found  his 
final  resting  place,  placidly  leaving  the  world,  in  which,  from  his 
earliest  youth,  he  had  been  conspicuous  for  his  virtues  and  useful 
ness.  The  volumes  of  our  judicial  reports  are  enriched  with  many 
of  his  opinions,  of  great  importance;  and  these  are  now  received 
with  the  same  respect  they  commanded,  when  they  were  sustained 
by  his  personal  and  official  influence  and  authority.  Much  of  our 
law  which  is  now  well  settled,  was,  at  the  period  of  his  judicial 
administration,  in  a  state  of  uncertainty,  long  usages  sometimes 
interfering  with  positive  legislative  enactments.  Principles  were  to 
be  established  suitable  to  our  system  of  jurisprudence,  and  con- 


EDWARD   SHIPPEN. 

structions  to  be  given  to  doubtful  laws.  His  sound  mind,  his  excel 
lent  legal  education  and  great  experience,  his  cool  temper  and 
discriminating  sagacity,  were  all  admirably  calculated  for  the  per 
formance  of  such  functions ;  and  he  did  perform  them  in  a  manner 
to  satisfy  his  contemporaries,  and  to  be  approved  and  unshaken  to 
this  day.  Judicial  qualifications  and  services  are  not  of  a  character 
to  catch  the  multitude,  or  to  be  the  subjects  of  popular  applause  ;  but 
there  is  no  officer  concerned  in  the  administration  of  the  affairs  ot 
a  people,  whose  duties  are  more  anxious  and  arduous  to  himself,  or 
more  important  to  the  community,  than  those  of  the  judge.  The 
preparatory  education  and  long  study;  the  painful  and  attentive 
experience,  which  are  indispensable  for  the  attainment  of  the  quali 
fications  befitting  the  bench ;  the  habits  of  close  and  careful  investi 
gation;  the  faculty  of  discovering  the  true  ground  of  controversy, 
of  distinguishing  between  real  and  apparent  resemblances,  between 
sound  reasoning  and  ingenious  sophism ;  the  firmness  never  to  yield 
principles  to  expediency,  nor  to  sacrifice  or  disturb  the  great  system 
of  jurisprudence  for  particular  cases  ;  and  withal,  to  hold  a  perfect 
command  over  every  feeling  that  might  irritate  the  temper  or  mislead 
the  judgment,  present  to  our  contemplation  a  combination  of  rare 
and  valuable  qualities,  deserving  our  highest  consideration  and 
respect.  The  laws  must  be  sustained  with  independence  and  intelli 
gence,  or  it  is  in  vain  that  they  are  wise  and  salutary ;  justice  must 
be  rendered  faithfully  to  the  parties  who  appeal  for  it  to  the  judicial 
tribunals,  or  it  is  a  mockery  to  promise  them  protection  and  redress. 
The  active,  efficient,  vital  operations  of  the  government  are  performed 
by  the  courts.  No  man  is  so  high  or  so  humble  as  to  be  beyond  their 
reach ;  they  bring  the  laws  into  every  man's  house,  to  punish  or  to 
protect  them.  Such  are  the  responsibilities  of  a  judge.  It  was  on 
the  judgment  seat  of  the  law,  that  the  high  qualities  of  Chief  Justice 
SHIPPEN  were  brought  into  their  best  exercise  and  use.  He  seemed 
by  nature  as  well  as  education  to  have  been  especially  prepared  for 
this  station.  Patient,  learned,  discriminating  and  just,  no  passion  or 
private  interest,  no  selfish  or  unworthy  feeling  of  favor  or  resentment 
ever  held  the  slightest  influence  over  his  conduct  or  decisions. 

Few  situations  expose  the  temper  to  more  irritating  trials  than  that 
of  a  judge.  He  must  occasionally  encounter  ignorance,  imperti 
nence,  stupidity,  obstinacy,  and  chicanery,  and  he  must  take  care 
that  they  do  not  move  him  from  his  line  of  duty.  The  bland 
and  equal  temper  of  Chief  Justice  SHIPPEN  never  forsook  him 
amidst  such  trials,  but,  on  the  contrary,  threw  a  charm  over  his 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

manner  of  repelling  or  submitting  to  them.  The  young  and  the 
timid  advocate  was  encouraged  by  his  kindness,  and  flattered  by  his 
attention.  He  knew  and  practiced  the  lesson  of  Lord  Bacon,  that 
"patience  is  one  of  the  first  duties  of  a  judge;"  and  he  felt  that  he  was 
bound  to  hear  every  party  and  every  advocate,  before  he  decided  his 
cause.  A  suitor  might  go  from  his  court  disappointed  by  the  judg 
ment,  but  he  could  not  be  dissatisfied  with  the  judge. 

Of  the  private  character  and  deportment  of  Chief  Justice  SHIPPEN, 
it  may  be  truly  said  that  he  has  left  few  imitators  of  his  manners. 
His  politeness  was  of  the  kind  that  has  its  foundations  in  a  well 
regulated  temper  and  the  best  feelings  of  a  benevolent  heart,  polished 
by  a  familiar  intercourse,  from  his  birth,  with  refined  society.  He 
combined,  in  a  remarkable  degree,  benignity  with  dignity,  conciliating 
the  affections  while  he  commanded  a  perfect  respect;  and,  as  a  valua 
ble  citizen,  and  an  accomplished  lawyer  and  judge,  remarkable  for 
the  great  extent  and  minute  accuracy  of  his  knowledge,  he  must  ever 
be  conspicuous,  among  those  worthies  who  have  won,  by  their  virtues 
and  their  talents,  an  imperishable  name. 


THEODRh     ROM!  K,  M.D. 


IT  is  • 

f- 


.-.'.4    r 

the  v  ilculated  01 

allu  ;-"  °* 

record,  or  barren  of  utility. 

The  subject  of  the  present  memoir,  as  one  of  the  most  successful 
of  American  medical  authors,  seems  justly  entitled  to  a  place,  in  a 
work  designed  to  f* -rp« -.-timtf  ?.h/?.  names  of  those  who  have  dislin- 

table  parents, 
the  state  of  New 

Yor  -«  r^n,  OD, 

one 

and  OTI<- 

Doctor  BECK'S  CH. 
his  native  place;  and,  u.< 
tution  which  had  be-en  esta, 
through  the  agency  and  active  excrtu* 
1807  he  was  graduated,  and  commence«J 
the  late  Doctors  M'Clelland  and  Low,  of  A I 
cation  was  afterwards  completed  under  the 
Hosack,  of  New  York,  in  which  place  he  attend*- 
th*>  ooUeg*  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  and  obtain--' 
histiiuiiou  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  in   18!i 
occasion    he  wrote  and  published  an    inaugural 
"Insanity."      Immediately  on  his  graduation,  he  ccr 
practice  of  his  profession  in  the  city  of  Albany. 

In  1815,  he  was  ap}x>inted  Professoi  4>f  thf  It 
and  Lecturer  on  Medical  Jurisprudence,  i.; 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

and  Surgeons  of  the  western  district  of  the  state  of  New  York,  a 
station  which  he  has  held  ever  since.  As  this  appointment  did  not 
require  his  absence  from  Albany  during  any  very  considerable 
portion  of  the  year,  he  still  continued  to  practice  medicine  in  that 
place.  This,  however,  did  not  long  continue  ;  and  in  a  short  time, 
owing  to  an  apprehension  that  his  health  was  inadequate  to  the 
arduous  duties  of  practice,  and  perhaps,  also,  to  a  superior  and 
growing  fondness  for  literary  pursuits,  he  abandoned  completely  the 
practical  exercise  of  his  profession,  and  in  1817,  accepted  the  situa 
tion  of  principal  of  the  Albany  Academy. 

This  institution,  in  every  thing  but  the  name,  is  on  an  equality 
with  many  of  the  colleges  of  our  country.  With  a  building  distin 
guished  for  its  architectural  beauty,  erected  by  the  public  authorities 
of  the  city,  and  aided  by  able  professors  in  various  departments, 
under  the  superintendence  of  Doctor  BECK  it  has  attained  a  high 
and  deserved  rank  among  the  literary  institutions  of  our  country. 

It  is  as  an  author,  however,  that  the  subject  of  this  memoir  is 
mainly  distinguished.  In  1813,  he  delivered  the  annual  address 
before  the  Society  of  Arts,  of  Albany,  On  the  Mineralogical  Re 
sources  of  the  United  States.  This  we  believe  was  the  earliest 
systematic  account  of  the  mineral  wealth  of  our  country,  and  the 
production,  which  was  published,  received  from  various  quarters  the 
most  respectful  notice. 

In  1823,  Doctor  BECK  published  his  work  entitled  "  Elements  of 
Medical  Jurisprudence,"  in  two  volumes,  octavo ;  which,  at  the  time, 
attracted  great  attention,  and  has  since  continued  a  standard  work 
on  the  subject  of  which  it  treats.  The  science  of  medical  jurispru 
dence  is  one  of  great  interest  and  importance.  It  treats  of  all  those 
questions  in  which  the  testimony  of  a  medical  man  may  be  required 
before  courts  of  justice,  and  from  the  nature  of  many  of  the  questions, 
it  is  obvious  that  their  discussion  requires  the  widest  range  of  medical 
and  scientific  knowledge.  Although  deeply  studied  in  Italy,  France, 
and  Germany,  this  science  had  scarcely  attracted  any  attention,  either 
in  this  country  or  in  England,  previously  to  the  publication  of  the 
work  of  Doctor  BECK.  To  him  is  certainly  due  the  high  credit,  not 
merely  of  rousing  public  attention  to  an  important  and  neglected 
subject,  but  also  of  presenting  a  work  upon  it  which  probably  will 
never  be  entirely  superseded.  In  foreign  countries,  its  merits  have 
been  duly  appreciated  and  magnanimously  acknowledged.  The 
Edinburgh  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal  says  of  it — 

"Under  the  unassuming  title  of  Elements  of  Medical  Jurispru- 


THEODRIC  ROMEYN  BECK. 

dence,  Doctor  BECK  has  presented  us  with  a  comprehensive  system, 
which  embraces  almost  every  valuable  fact  or  doctrine  relating  to  it. 
Each  of  its  diversified  departments  has  been  investigated  so  minutely, 
that  few  cases  can  occur  in  practice,  on  which  it  will  be  necessary 
to  seek  elsewhere  for  farther  information.  At  the  same  time,  by 
studying  succinctness,  and  shunning  those  verbose  oratorical  details 
with  which  other  writers,  and  particularly  those  of  France,  abound, 
he  has  succeeded  in  rendering  his  treatise  comprehensive  within  a 
singularly  moderate  compass.  We  may  securely  assert,  that  a  work 
on  the  subject  is  not  to  be  found  in  any  language,  which  displays  so 
much  patient  and  discriminating  research,  with  so  little  of  the  mere 
ostentation  of  learning.  The  opinions  expressed  both  on  general 
principles  and  on  the  particular  questions  which  have  occurred  in 
courts  of  law,  are  given  clearly  arid  judiciously.  There  are  few 
occasions,  even  where  the  points  at  issue  are  difficult  and  obscure, 
on  which  persons  of  skill  and  experience  will  be  disposed  to  differ 
materially  with  him." 

In  the  various  medical  colleges  of  Great  Britain  there  has  been, 
we  believe,  no  text  book  on  medical  jurisprudence  positively  adopted ; 
but  we  have  been  informed  that  Doctor  BECK'S  work  has  been  for 
years  recommended  to  students  by  professors. 

In  1828,  it  was  translated  into  German  at  Weimar,  and  has  been 
favorably  received  in  various  parts  of  the  continent  of  Europe. 

It  is  not  alone  the  physician  and  the  jurist  who  are  indebted  to 
Doctor  BECK  for  this  essential  work ;  but  it  has  proved  to  the  general 
reader,  we  believe  invariably,  a  fund  of  interesting  information ; 
and  we  will  venture  to  say,  that  no  one  has  ever  risen  from  its 
perusal  without  experiencing  an  agreeable  surprise,  that  a  subject  so 
uninviting  in  its  title,  should  afford  so  much  amusement.  The 
remarks  of  a  writer  in  Black  wood's  Magazine  agree  so  well  with  our 
own  experience,  that  we  cannot  do  better  than  adopt  them.  "  The 
ignorant  state  in  which  jurymen  continually  come  to  the  consider 
ation  of  points  of  medical  evidence  on  criminal  trials,  is  lamentable. 
In  regard  to  men  of  any  habits  of  reading,  it  is  really  sinful ;  and 
certainly  not  the  less  so,  because  the  works  which  they  ought  to 
read  and  master,  happen  to  be  about  the  most  interesting  and 
amusing  books  in  the  world." 

Doctor  BECK  is  one  of  the  founders  and  active  supporters  of  the 
Albany  institute,  a  scientific  and  literary  association,  which  has 
already  published  the  first  volume  of  its  Transactions,  highly  cre 
ditable  to  itself  and  to  its  members. 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

Of  the  personal  qualities  of  the  subject  of  this  memoir,  it  is  perhaps 
hardly  fit  to  speak.  Suffice  it  to  say,  he  is  universally  respected  and 
esteemed.  Unpretending  in  his  manners  and  studious  in  his  habits, 
the  voice  of  praise  has  not  rendered  him  arrogant  or  indolent,  and  the 
science  of  his  country  has  much  yet  to  hope  from  his  labors  and  learn 
ing. 

So  far  as  relates  to  the  prominent  incidents  in  the  life  of  this  dis 
tinguished  individual,  the  brief  memoir  already  given  is  sufficiently 
copious  and  faithful.  His  career  in  the  march  of  science  and  philoso 
phy  has,  up  to  the  present  hour,  remained  unchanged  by  misfortune 
or  reverse.  Devoted  with  a  peculiar  love  to  the  study  of  Juridical 
science  his  great  work  on  Medical  Jurisprudence,  has,  by  successive 
editions,  became  a  vast  repository  of  precious  truths,  indispensably  ne 
cessary  to  every  sound  lawyer,  to  every  medical  man  who  would  give 
proper  and  safe  testimony  in  criminal  cases  before  courts,  as  well  as  to 
the  enlightened  citizen  desirous  of  the  promulgation  of  wholesome 
doctrines  on  hygiene  and  public  health.  Nor  is  this  estimate  of 
Dr.  BECK'S  work  on  Forensic  medicine  limited  to  the  opinion  of  his 
own  countrymen:  European  science  and  its  cultivators  have  favored 
its  wide  diffusion  as  among  the  surest  guides  of  knowledge  as  a  text 
book  for  colleges  and  universities  of  the  highest  renown  in  the  Old 
World. 

The  long  association  of  Dr.  BECK  with  academic  education  has 
recently  identified  him  still  more  closely  with  the  interests  of  popular 
instruction  in  the  great  state  of  New  York.  Thoroughly  conversant 
with  the  various  measures  which  from  time  to  time  have  been  adopted 
by  the  regents  of  the  University  in  the  distribution  of  funds  and  in  the 
maintenance  of  public  schools,  he  has  lately  been  selected  as  the  sec 
retary  of  the  board  in  the  place  of  that  venerable  citizen  and  excellent 
man  Gideon  Hawley.  The  Public  or  State  Library  of  Albany  has 
also  long  enjoyed  the  suggestions  of  his  wisdom  in  its  government. 
It  remains  only  to  add  that  upon  the  organization  of  the  new  Medical 
College  at  Albany,  and  his  secession  from  the  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons  of  western  New  York,  (now  an  extinct  institution,)  Dr. 
BECK  has  been  appointed  by  the  Regents  to  the  chair  of  Materia 
Medica.  Lately  Professor  BECK  has  most  meritoriously  been  created 
LL.  D.  by  the  faculty  of  Union  College. 


Engraved  by  J.B.Lc>T>,;;acre  irora  al'viimin^iy  C.^V.Pealc. 


WHILILnj 


OTHO   HOLLA  \  MS. 


THE  military  operations  of  the  re^ 

selves  in  review  in  two  series,  divi 

peak*  ,  awn  is  - 

his>. 

r»f  i. 

atteii  of  thai 

• 

insepara  lion 

of  much  historical  memoranda  unnecessary  L  Uich 

the  memoirs  of  many  of  the  most  prominent  actors  in  the  same  scenes 
are  brought  together ;  we  shall,  therefore,  in  the  present  instance, 
cot  to  as  brief  a  sp&c*  an  \»  possible,  with  a  due  regard 


*t    *<Hi 

gnu  -r«|  ilw: 

prov 

but  was 

While  yet  a  youth,  he  wa 

of  Frederick,  and  he  afterwards  roino' 

timore. 

He  was  then  about  eighteen  years  of  age,  nearly  six. 
elegantly  formed,  his  wbule  appearance  and  conduct  i; 
his  years,  and  his  manners  such  -as  made  friends  of  all  who  I 
him.     He  returned  to  Frederick,  and  early  in  the  revolutionary  war 
(1775)  was  appointed  a  lieutenant  in  a  rifle  company,  comma: 
by  Captain  Price.    The  company  marched  to  Boston,  and  his  captain 
being  promoted,  he  succeeded  to  the  command  of  it.     When   ? 
Washington  wa*  ?i»fnck»:?d  he  had  the  rank  o  MS  com- 

man<i--:    -M;  >  stationed  in  -f  the 

fort.     The   Hessian*   attempted   to  d;  H'cre  twice 

driven  bark  with  great  slaughter.     Ha\  reinforced,  they 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

and  appointed  him  adjutant-general  of  his  army.  In  this  high  trust, 
he  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  his  general  and  the  army,  and  fully 
merited  it  by  his  gallantry  and  his  strict  attention  to  his  duties.  In 
every  action  —  and  they  were  numerous — he  displayed  tact,  judg 
ment,  and  presence  of  mind.  He  gained  great  honor  for  his  conduct 
in  covering,  with  the  rear  guard,  which  he  commanded,  the  memor 
able  retreat  of  the  army  through  North  Carolina. 

He  baffled  every  attempt  of  the  enemy  to  bring  on  a  general  en 
gagement,  and  by  checking  his  advance,  gained  sufficient  time  to 
enable  the  main  body  of  the  army  to  secure  its  retreat.  The  preser 
vation  of  that  army  has  been  justly  attributed  to  him  for  his  firmness, 
coolness,  and  able  manoeuvres. 

In  the  battle  at  the  Eutaw  Springs,  he  led  that  celebrated  charge, 
which  gained  him  the  highest  honors  of  the  day.  At  a  critical 
moment  General  Greene  issued  the  order,  "  Let  WILLIAMS  advance 
and  sweep  the  field  with  his  bayonets."  Promptly  was  the  order 
obeyed — the  field  was  swept,  but  the  victory  was  dearly  bought. 
Near  the  close  of  the  war,  he  was  sent  by  General  Greene  with  des 
patches  to  congress,  and  was  by  that  body  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
brigadier-general,  as  a  reward  for  his  gallant  services.  About  that 
period  the  state  collector  of  the  customs  for  Baltimore,  died,  and 
WILLIAMS  received  the  appointment  from  the  governor  of  Maryland. 
The  office  was  lucrative,  and  he  enjoyed  it  until  the  adoption  of  the 
constitution  of  the  United  States,  when  Washington  appointed  him 
to  the  same  office,  which  he  held  until  his  death. 

General  WILLIAMS  married  Mary,  the  second  daughter  of  Wil 
liam  Smith,  a  wealthy  merchant  of  Baltimore,  who  had  been  a 
member  of  congress.  They  had  four  sons,  William,  Edward,  Henry, 
and  Otho,  all  of  whom  inherited  handsome  fortunes,  and  many  of 
the  fine  qualities  of  their  father.  William  and  Edward  married,  the 
former  Miss  Susan  Cook,  and  the  latter  Miss  Gilmore,  of  Baltimore. 
The  four  brothers  have  all,  however,  been  called  to  early  graves, 
and  the  only  lineal  representatives  of  the  gallant,  amiable,  and  ac 
complished  WILLIAMS,  are  the  two  sons,  and  two  daughters  of  his 
son  William,  and  a  daughter  of  his  son  Edward. 

The  health  of  General  WILLIAMS  had  been  very  delicate  for 
many  years ;  the  result  of  the  cruelty  inflicted  on  him  while  a 
prisoner,  and  of  the  severe  service  he  was  engaged  in,  during  his 
campaign  in  the  south.  He  died  on  the  16th  of  July,  1794,  on  his 
way  to  a  watering  place,  regretted  by  his  country  and  his  friends. 


©©HUF 


J  O  S  £  H  A  13  Af 


COLON  K  i.  J<> 
tht 

•• 

Piv  (J  by 

the  exertions  of  Mr. 

fied,  by  his  literary,  as  well  as  moral   and   re  and 

hah  '  one  of  the  Kind's  Council  in 

tht?  Governor,  in 

th'  he   rttmmned 

•tj  of  tlit*  Royal  au- 
io  our 


?••>  '••  -  »o  i-e- 

ma 
giv 

*  and  op  |  j  of 

liberty 

perse  venmci    . 
in  their  • 

of  his  adopted  eouns 
coimtiy  "made  a   d 

sons  denounced  as  traitors.  ^nis  there  were  ; 

JOSEPH,  and  J->hn,  who  all  engaged  w*'     zeal  in  the  Revoh 
regardless  ot  consequences,  rejecting  and  despising  all  ofh-r 
cleniency,  continued  to  the  end  the  imtiinching  friends  ai^l 
sup{)orte/s  of  the  repuh!ir;ui  cause. 

he  **5oiid  «v>ti,  and  subjert..f»f  this  notice,  \va*  «j; 
-olit?jft?,  in  New  J  ?rsey.    Of  <|tuck  ai 
and  chivalrous  ml  mo*  to  excess,  a  p*tf>*l  of  VVitherspoAn,  at?d  \vith  the 
independent  spirit  which  he  !  ul  from  his  ;iah^r    :!  noeim  tA 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

have  been  almost  a  matter  of  course  that  he  should  have  taken  an 
early,  active,  and  decided  part  in  the  excited  feelings  and  deeply  in 
teresting  movements  of  the  times.  Accordingly,  on  the  27th  July,  1 774, 
at  the  age  of  twenty-three,  we  find  him  a  member  of  the  first  commit 
tee  appointed  by  the  friends  of  liberty  in  Georgia  ;  which,  in  defiance 
of  the  proclamation  of  Governor  Wright,  continued  to  co-operate  with 
similar  committees  in  the  northern  Provinces,  and  to  excite  the  people  to 
resistance.  When  we  recollect,  in  connexion  with  this  fact,  that  his  father 
was,  at  that  moment,  the  second  officer  of  the  King  in  the  Province,  and 
high  in  favor,  the  prominent  part  which  Colonel  HABERSHAM  took  in 
these  proceedings  exhibits  a  deep  devotion  to  the  cause  of  his  country, 
which  no  influence  of  others,  or  considerations  of  a  personal  nature, 
could  restrain.  In  the  following  year,  and  while  his  father  was  still 
alive  and  in  office,  we  again  find  his  name  recorded  among  those  of  a 
small  party  of  the  Republicans,  who  broke  open  the  magazine,  took 
out  the  powder,  and  sent  a  large  portion  of  it  to  Beaufort,  in  South 
Carolina,  for  the  use  of  the  patriots.  In  the  month  of  June  of  the 
same  year  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  council  of  safety ;  and  in  July, 
commanded  a  party  of  volunteers  which  went  down  the  river  in 
boats,  captured  a  government  ship  which  had  just  arrived  with  mu 
nitions  of  war  for  the  royal  troops,  and  took  out  the  cargo,  includ 
ing  15,000  pounds  of  powder,  a  portion  of  which  was  afterwards 
sent  to  the  north  and  used  by  the  American  army  before  Boston. 
On  the  18th  day  of  January  of  the  ever-memorable  year  1776,  Colo 
nel  HABERSHAM,  who  was  at  that  time  a  member  of  the  assembly, 
raised  a  party  of  volunteers,  took  Governor  Wright  prisoner,  and  con- 
fined  him  to  his  house  under  a  guard.  The  Governor  effected  his 
escape,  however,  from  this  prison  in  a  few  weeks,  took  refuge  on 
board  of  a  British  vessel  of  war  then  in  the  river,  and  never  after 
wards  landed  in  Georgia. 

Active  hostilities  were  now  fairly  commenced  in  the  province.  By 
a  resolution  of  the  General  Assembly  the  first  battalion  of  Georgia 
Continental  troops  was  raised  ;  and  on  the  4th  of  February,  1776, 
Colonel,  then  Mr.  HABERSHAM,  was  appointed  Major  of  that  battalion.. 
In  this  command  he  did  not  remain  idle ;  for,  early  in  March,  the 
British  armed  squadron  came  up  the  river  Savannah  to  recover  pos 
session  of  the  town,  which  attempt  failed.  In  the  defence,  Colonel  HA 
BERSHAM,  at  the  head  of  a  company  of  riflemen,  bore  a  distinguished 
part.  In  fact,  he  appears  at  this  time  to  have  been  prominently  en 
gaged  on  every  occasion  in  which  danger  was  to  be  encountered,  or 
the  royal  authority  resisted. 


JOSEPH   HABERSHAM. 

After  the  expulsion  of  Governor  Wright,  and  of  the  British  forces 
from  Georgia,  that  Province  enjoyed  a  few  months  of  comparative 
quiet;  during  which,  on  the  19th  of  May,  1770,  Colonel  HABERSHAM 
married  Isabella  Rae,  the  daughter  of  Rohert  Rae,  and  sister-in-law  of 
General  Samuel  Elbert.  Upon  the  taking  of  Savannah,  in  the  winter  oi 
1778,  and  the  re-establishment  of  the  Royal  Government  in  Georgia, 
Colonel  HABERSHAM  removed  his  family  to  Virginia  for  safety;  but 
his  zeal  in  the  cause  of  his  country  did  not  permit  him  to  retire  from 
its  service,  and  accordingly,  upon  the  landing  of  Count  De  Estaing 
in  Georgia,  to  co-operate  with  General  Lincoln  in  the  reduction  of 
Savannah,  he  was  selected  as  the  officer  to  guide  the  French  army 
from  the  sea-board,  and  was  engaged  in  the  combined  attack  upon 
his  native  city,  so  disastrous  in  its  results.  After  the  failure  of  this 
attack,  and  the  retreat  of  the  American  and  French  armies  from  the 
State,  Savannah,  and  nearly  the  whole  of  Georgia,  remained  in  pos 
session  of  the  British,  and  so  continued  to  the  end  of  the  war. 

At  the  close  of  the  Revo'utiori,  Colonel  HABERSHAM  returned  to 
private  life  with  a  broken  fortune,  but  rich  in  the  respect  and  affection  of 
a  free  and  independent  peop'e.  In  the  ever-memorable  contest  which 
had  just  closed,  it  would  be  invidious  to  claim  for  Colonel  HABER 
SHAM  either  a  peculiar  strength  of  patriotism  or  of  devotion  to  the 
cause  of  the  Revolution  ;  thousands,  like  him,  had  perilled  life  and 
fortune  in  that  Revolution  ;  but  when  we  reflect  that  his  father  was 
high  in  office,  and  in  the  confidence  of  the  King;  that  he  himself, 
if  the  Royal  authority  was  preserved,  had  every  prospect  of  enjoying 
like  confidence  and  distinction  ;  that  the  very  weakness  of  the  Pro 
vince  gave,  in  the  beginning,  but  little  hope  of  effectual  resistance; 
and  that,  in  the  event  of  failure,  he  would,  from  these  very  circum 
stances,  become  a  marked  object  of  Royal  vengeance;  surely  we  may 
be  entitled  to  claim  for  him  more  than  a  common  share  of  devoted 
patriotism — and  such  w;is  the  portion  awarded  to  him  by  his  native 
State.  In  the  year  1785  he  was  elected  Speaker  of  the  General  As 
sernbly;  and  in  1790  was  again  honored  with  the  same  distinction. 

In  the  year  1795  Colonel  HABERSHAM  was  called,  by  Washington, 
to  the  distinguished  station  of  Post-Master-General  of  the  United 

?5 

States  ;  and  we  require  no  better  proof  of  the  able  and  faithful  manner 
in  which  he  discharged  his  duties,  than  the  fact  that  he  retained  that 
office,  not  only  to  the  close  of  the  administration  of  Washington,  but 
throughout  that  of  the  elder  Adams,  At  a  period  when  so  many, 
from  great  and  devoted  service  to  the  country,  had  claims  to  office , 
and  these  claims,  well-known  and  appreciated  ;  and  when  the  s 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

tion  was  made  by  Washington,  this  appointment  was  the  best  evidence 
of  his  great  merit,  and  the  general  estimation  in  which  he  was  held. 
In  this  orfice,  as  has  been  already  stated,  he  continued  until  the  ac 
cession  of  Mr.  Jefferson  to  the  presidency ;  but  he  retained  the  office 
so  long,  by  no  cringing  or  truckling  to  the  higher  authorities ;  for  the 
president,  Mr.  Adams,  having  told  him  that  the  post-office  department 
was  an  Augean  stable,  and  must  be  cleansed — meaning  that  the  post 
masters  who  were  of  the  opposite  party  must  be  removed  ;  Colonel 
HARKRSHAM  replied,  that  these  officers  had  discharged  their  duty 
faithfully,  and  that,  therefore,  he  would  not  remove  them,  but  that 
the  president  could  remove  the  post-master-general.  This,  however, 
Mr.  Adams,  it  seems,  did  not  think  proper  to  do. 

The  principle,  however,  which  Colonel  HABERSHAM  refused  to 
act  upon  was  soon  after  made  to  act  upon  him.  When  Mr.  Jefferson 
became  the  president,  a  polite  note  was  addressed  to  Colonel  HABER 
SHAM,  tendering  to  him  the  office  of  Treasurer  of  the  United  States. 
This  offer  was  received  as,  no  doubt,  it  was  intended  to  be,  an  inti 
mation  to  him  to  resign  the  office  of  post-master-general,  which  he 
immediately  did,  and  returned  to  Georgia. 

Upon  the  establishment  of  a  branch  of  the  old  Bank  of  the  United 
States  in  Savannah,  Colonel  HABERSHAM  was  appointed  the  President, 
which  office  he  continued  to  hold  until  the  expiration  of  the  charter. 
The  few  remaining  years  of  his  life  were  devoted  to  honorable  efforts 
fo  repair  the  ruins  of  that  fortune  which  had  been  broken  by  the 
Revolution,  and  in  preparation  for  the  close  of  that  life,  the  greater 
portion  of  which  had  been  devoted  to  the  service  of  his  country.  His 
death  occurred  in  his  native  city,  on  the  17th  day  of  November  in 
the  year  1815,  and  in  the  sixty-fifth  year  of  his  age. 

We  have  said  that  Colonel  HABERSHAM  was  quick  and  ardent  in 
temper  ;  but,  although  quick  to  take  offence,  he  was  ready  and  anxious 
to  make  atonement  for  the  slightest  wrong — kind  and  indulgent  to 
his  slaves,  humane  and  liberal  to  the  poor,  strict  in  the  performance 
of  all  his  contracts  ;  tenacious  of  his  own,  as  he  had  been  of  the  rights 
of  his  country.  Allowing  to  others  the  same  independent  and  frank 
expression  of  opinion  which  he  always  exercised  for  himself,  he  may 
with  truth  be  pronounced  to  have  been  a  fair  specimen  of  that  noble, 
generous,  and  chivalric  race  who  achieved  the  liberty  and  indepen 
dence  of  our  happy  country. 


A  B  K 


IT  "\v- 

estir 
of  fl 

TlJl 

BALDWIN.    War 

m  up  to  in  me  wi* 

anc<  a  morai 

virtue.     It  is  in  times  of  peace  thai  dest 

earned,  and  most  difficult  to  be  secured, 

enc*  right  an:  -.ing 

to  - 


Ne\v 

schol. 

of  the  pr<- 

rican  war  ;  al 

went  to  esta 

Savannah  in  the  s 

a  counsellor  at  the  Georg: 

elected  a  member  of  the  stale 

of  that  body  after  his  election, 

of  that  Htate,  lor  which  their 

deed,  if  he  had  done  nothing  for  fttew*  & 

have  immortali^'d  him  fi^re.     He  orh 

versuy  of  Or  vW  up  ?; 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

patience,  in  vanquishing  all  sorts^of  prejudices  and  removing  every 
obstruction,  he  persuaded  the  assembly  to  adopt  it.  This  instrument 
endowed  the  university  with  forty  thousand  acres  of  excellent  land, 
required  it  to  establish  one  central  seat  for  the  higher  branches  of 
education,  and  a  secondary  college  in  every  county  in  the  state; 
all  dependant  on  the  principal  seminary. 

These  lands  were  then  uncultivated ;  the  state  itself  was  new. 
Within  a  few  years,  however,  the  rents  of  the  university  lands  ena 
bled  the  trustees  to  erect  the  buildings  and  organize  the  institution, 
Its  principal  seat  was  established  at  Athens,  on  the  Oconee  river, 
and  its  first  president  was  Josiah  Meigs,  a  man  equally  eminent  for 
mathematical  and  chemical  science,  and  legal  and  classical  erudition. 

John  Milledge,  governor  of  the  state,  and  afterward  the  colleague 
of  Mr.  BALDWIN  in  the  senate  of  the  United  States,  was  associated 
with  him  in  the  labor  of  bringing  forward  this  establishment :  and 
the  trustees  caused  to  be  erected  and  placed  within  the  walls  of  the 
first  college,  a  marble  monument  to  Baldwin  as  founder  of  the  insti 
tution,  and  to  Milledge,  his  associate.  Nor  is  this  the  only  instance 
in  which  we  find  their  names  connected  by  monumental  acts  of 
public  authority.  Milledgeville  is  the  shire  town  of  Baldwin 
county,  and  the  seat  of  the  state  government. 

Mr.  BALDWIN  had  not  been  two  years  in  Georgia  when  he  was 
elected  member  of  congress.  This  was  in  1785,  to  take  his  seat  in 
1786;  from  that  time  till  the  day  of  his  death,  he  was,  without  a 
moment's  intermission,  a  member  of  congress  from  that  state,  either 
as  delegate  under  the  old  constitution,  until  the  year  17S9;  repre 
sentative  under  the  new,  until  the  year  1799;  and  senator  from  that 
time  till  his  death.  And  the  term  for  which  he  was  last  elected  had 
still  four  years  to  run  from  the  4th  of  March,  1807,  the  day  of  his 
decease. 

There  had  probably  been  no  other  instance  of  such  a  long  and 
uninterrupted  series  of  confidence  and  service  among  the  members 
of  the  American  congress.  And  what  is  more  remarkable,  on  the 
first  day  that  he  was  confined  to  his  house  in  his  last  illness,  only 
eight  days  before  his  death,  he  told  his  friends  that  during  his 
twenty-two  years  of  public  service,  that  day,  according  to  his  best 
recollection,  was  the  first  that  he  had  been  absent  from  his  public 
duties. 

Mr.  BALDWIN  was  a  member  of  the  convention  that  framed  the 
present  constitution  of  the  United  States.  This  he  always  considered 
*is  the  greatest  service  that  he  ever  performed  for  his  country ;  and 


ABRAHAM  BALDWIN. 

his  estimate  is  doubtless  just.  He  was  an  active  member  of  trat 
most  illustrious  and  meritorious  body.  Their  deliberations  were  ii< 
secret ;  but  we  have  good  authority  for  saying,  that  some  of  the 
essential  clauses  of  the  invaluable,  and  we  hope  everlasting,  com 
pact,  which  they  presented  to  their  country,  owe  their  origin  and 
insertion  to  ABRAHAM  BALDWIN. 

His  manner  of  conducting  public  business  was  worthy  of  the 
highest  commendation;  he  may  have  wanted  ambition  to  make 
himself  brilliant,  but  he  never  wanted  industry  to  render  himself 
useful.  His  oratory  was  simple,  forcible,  convincing.  His  maxim 
of  never  asserting  any  thing  but  what  he  believed  to  be  true,  could 
not  fail  to  be  useful  in  carrying  conviction  to  others.  Patient  of 
contradiction,  and  tolerant  to  the  wildest  opinions,  he  could  be  as 
indulgent  to  the  errors  of  judgment  in  other  men,  as  if  he  had  stood 
the  most  in  need  of  such  indulgence  for  himself. 

During  the  violent  agitation  of  parties,  he  was  always  moderate, 
but  firm;  relaxing  nothing  in  his  republican  principles,  but  retaining 
all  possible  charity  for  his  former  friends,  who  might  be  supposed 
to  have  abandoned  theirs.  He  lived  without  reproach,  and  proba 
bly  died  without  an  enemy. 

The  state  of  society  would  be  rendered  much  better  than  it  is,  if 
the  private  lives  of  virtuous  men  could  be  as  well  known  as  their 
public  lives;  that  they  might  be  kept  clearly  in  view  as  objects  of 
imitation.  We  are  creatures  of  habit,  and  our  habits  are  formed  as 
much  by  repeating  after  others  as  after  ourselves.  Men,  therefore, 
mistake  a  plain  moral  principle  when  they  suppose  it  meritorious 
to  conceal  their  good  actions  from  the  eye  of  the  world.  On  the 
contrary,  it  is  a  part  of  their  duty  to  let  such  actions  be  known  ; 
that  they  may  extend  their  benefits  by  a  sort  of  reproduction,  and 
be  multiplied  by  imitation. 

Mr.  BALDWIN'S  private  life  was  full  of  beneficent  and  charitable 
deeds,  which  he  was  too  studious  to  conceal  from  public  notice. 
Having  never  been  married,  he  had  no  family  of  his  own  ;  and  his 
constant  habits  of  economy  and  temperance,  left  him  the  means  of 
assisting  many  young  men  in  their  education  and  their  establishment 
in  business.  Besides  which,  his  father's  family  presented  an  ample 
field  for  his  benevolence.  Six  orphans,  his  half-brothers  and  sisters, 
were  left  to  his  care  by  the  father's  death  in  the  year  1787;  and 
the  estate  that  was  to  support  them  proved  insolvent.  He  paid  the 
debts  of  the  estate,  quit-claimed  his  proportion  to  these  children, 
and  educated  them  all  in  a  great  measure  at  his  own  expense. 

3  VOL.  4.— M 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

Mr.  BALDWIN  was  less  distinguished  by  the  brilliancy  of  his 
talents,  or  acuteness  of  reasoning,  than  by  his  strength  of  mind  and 
soundness  of  judgment;  slow  and  deliberate  in  making  up  his 
conclusions,  he  examined  thoroughly  every  subject  on  which  he 
acted,  but  when  he  became  satisfied  as  to  the  correct  course,  no 
one  followed  it  in  a  more  undeviating  line.  He  measured  every 
question,  whether  of  principle  or  policy,  by  what  he  deemed  to  be 
established  rules  in  the  organization  and  administration  of  govern 
ment,  as  developed  in  the  political  history  of  the  mother  country, 
the  colonies,  and  states,  and  embodied  in  their  several  constitutions. 

Having  served  in  the  revolutionary  war  as  a  chaplain  in  the 
Connecticut  brigade,  he  acquired  a  practical  knowledge  of  the 
radical  defects  of  the  old  confederation,  in  the  conduct  of  onr  mili 
tary  operations :  his  subsequent  experience  in  civil  life,  convinced 
him  of  the  imperious  necessity  of  avoiding  the  imminent  danger  of 
a  dissolution  of  the  confederacy,  by  the  establishment  of  a  new 
system  of  government  on  the  authority  of  the  people  of  the  states, 
instead  of  that  of  state  legislatures.  Hence,  he  was  the  zealous 
advocate  in  congress  for  a  National  Convention  to  frame  the  con 
stitution  of  a  federal  government,  and  as  a  member  of  that  conven 
tion,  active  in  its  deliberations,  laborious  in  effecting  that  important 
result,  and  afterwards  in  procuring  its  adoption  by  the  people. 
Fully  satisfied  that  in  the  institution  of  "one  new  government  out 
of  thirteen  old  ones,"  with  such  powers  over  each,  and  all,  as  were 
indispensable  for  federal  purposes,  enabling  it  not  only  to  make,  but 
execute  its  own  laws  on  the  enumerated  subjects  which  had  been 
confided  to  its  jurisdiction,  the  greatest  possible  good  had  been 
effected  for  the  country.  Mr.  BALDWIN  constantly  acted  on  this 
conviction.  Looking  to  the  constitution  as  the  bond  of  union, 
which  united  the  states  by  a  law  which  the  people  of  each  had 
declared  to  be  supreme  throughout  the  land,  he  was  in  the  constitu 
tional  sense  of  the  term,  a  federalist ;  as  one  of  its  framers,  he  ap 
proved  of  the  federative  principles  of  the  constitution,  whereby  a 
government  was  instituted  neither  consolidated  nor  popular,  but 
federal  in  its  origin,  organization,  administration,  and  action.  After 
its  adoption  by  the  people,  he  took  it  as  a  fundamental  law,  the 
written  text,  declaring  the  will  of  the  supreme  power,  which  was 
competent  and  had  ordained  it  as  the  standard  rule  of  action  by 
which  to  measure  the  powers  of  the  federal  government,  and  its 
respective  departments,  as  well  as  those  reserved  to  the  several 
states.  Whatever  may  have  been  his  individual  opinion  as  to  any 


ABRAHAM  BALDWIN. 

detailed  provisions,  while  the  convention  were  deliberating  upon 
them,  he  never  suffered  them  to  bias  his  construction ;  nor  with  all 
his  veneration  of  his  illustrious  associates,  did  he  regard  the  sense 
of  that  body  "as  the  oracular  guide  in  expounding  the  constitution." 
He  followed  a  safer  guide,  he  saw  and  read  what  the  convention 
proposed,  and  the  people  adopted  ;  regarding  as  of  little  importance 
the  discussions  which  led  to  the  great  results,  whether  in  the 
meetings  of  the  people,  in  party  writings,  or  the  reasoning  of  the 
members  of  the  general  or  state  conventions.  A  constitution  was 
adopted,  a  constitution  was  to  be  construed,  as  a  written  declaration 
of  the  will  of  sovereign  power.  Mr.  BALDWIN  took  it  as  he  found 
it?  made  it  his  rule  of  action;  following  and  obeying  it  as  a  disciple, 
he  neither  sought  to  enlarge  or  narrow  its  provisions  by  any  theory 
or  doctrine  not  declared  in  terms,  or  by  necessary  consequence 
therefrom. 

Acting  under  the  influence  of  these  principles  throughout  a  long 
course  of  public  service,  he  never  lost  sight  of  the  "  balance  of  the 
federal  constitution;"  he  found  this  balance  by  viewing  all  its  parts, 
reconciling  each  with  the  others,  with  a  steady  determination  "  to 
give  the  greatest  effect  to  them  all,"  according  to  the  plain  import 
and  knowledge  of  the  words  and  terms. 

But  although  Mr.  BALDWIN  was  in  these  respects  a  federalist,  he 
was  in  the  political  sense  of  the  term  a  democrat;  his  principles  of 
government  and  policy,  were  those  which  had  denoted  the  line 
between  the  two  great  parties  into  which  the  country  was  divided 
as  they  were  developed  at  the  organization  of  the  government, 
whether  on  questions  of  power  or  policy.  Considering  the  constitu 
tion  as  a  direct  grant  by  the  people  of  the  several  states,  in  their 
sovereign  capacity  as  each  an  independent  state,  he  gave  it  full  effect 
in  all  things  to  which  its  provisions  extended,  according  to  their 
received  acceptation.  In  assigning  a  meaning  to  any  word  or 
phrase  of  doubtful  import,  he  took  it  in  connexion  with  the  whole 
instrument,  its  bearing  on  other  parts,  considering  words  and 
phrases  as  borrowed  from  former  use,  and  used  in  the  same  sense 
in  which  they  had  always  been  taken.  Though  he  was  from  his 
youth  devoted  to  the  principles  of  the  revolution,  yet  his  patriotism 
was  not  of  that  morbid  and  sensitive  nature,  as  to  prevent  him  from 
resorting  to  English  books  and  laws  to  ascertain  the  definition  of 
terms  which  were  found  in  the  constitution,  as  the  understood  sense 
in  which  they  had  been  adopted  and  used  by  those  who  framed 
and  ratified  that  instrument;  justly  thinking  that  it  could  not  hav* 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

been  intended  to  give  to  old  words  or  terms  a  new  meaning,  with 
out  some  declaration  to  that  effect.  But  while  he  conceded  to  the 
federal  government  the  exercise  of  its  enumerated  powers  to  the  full 
extent  of  the  grant,  by  a  liberal  rather  than  a  contracted  construction 
of  its  provisions,  he  steadily  refused  his  assent  to  any  measures, 
which,  in  principle  or  operation,  tended  to  impair  the  reserved 
powers  or  rights  of  the  states  or  people,  by  any  train  of  refined  or 
ingenious  reasoning,  or  reference  to  doubtful  authority.  Whenever 
a  question  arose,  involving  any  collision  between  the  relative  powers 
of  the  executive  and  legislative  departments  of  the  government,  he 
uniformly  asserted  the  rights  of  the  latter,  adopting  this  as  a  political 
maxim,  that  "every  particle  of  law-making  power  in  the  constitu 
tion  granted,  was  vested  in  congress ;"  he  opposed  its  exercise  by 
any  other  department,  in  any  mode  which  partook  of  the  character, 
or  by  any  act  which  could  have  the  effect  of  legislation.  Fully 
convinced  that  the  "  balance  of  the  constitution7'  consisted  in  the 
steadfast  adherence  to  these  principles,  they  were  his  guide  amidst 
all  the  conflicts  of  party,  and  the  exciting  questions  which  continued 
from  the  organization  of  the  government  to  agitate  the  country.  In 
following  them  he  acquired  and  retained  till  his  death,  the  confi 
dence  of  the  party  to  which  he  was  attached,  the  respect  of  that 
which  he  opposed,  the  approbation  of  the  people  and  state  he  repre 
sented,  and  died  with  the  consciousness  of  having  faithfully  and 
fearlessly  filled  the  measure  of  his  public  duties. 

His  last  illness  was  so  short,  and  his  death  so  unexpected,  that 
none  of  his  relatives,  except  his  brother-in-law,  were  able  to  be 
present  at  his  funeral.  But  it  seemed  as  if  the  public  in  general 
were  his  near  relatives.  There  have  been  rarely  witnessed  more 
general  and  genuine  marks  of  regret,  at  the  loss  of  any  of  the  great 
benefactors  of  our  country,  particularly  among  the  members  of 
congress  from  Georgia.  In  that  state  his  loss  was  most  deeply  felt, 
though  very  sensibly  perceived  in  the  councils  of  the  union. 
Though  his  funeral  was  two  days  after  congress  dissolved,  many 
members  stayed  expressly  to  attend  it.  His  remains  were  deposited 
by  the  side  of  his  old  friend,  General  James  Jackson,  his  former 
colleague,  whom  he  had  followed  to  the  grave  just  one  year  before. 


iki ,; 


ELIAS    BOUDINOT. 


As  the  most  tranquil  and  prosperous  >  fFord  but 

scan  ian,  so  it  nien 

em> 
in  : 

. 

liter;;  except  ii 

of  <  '1  as 

fact.-  "r  are 

done  in  secret,  or  known  but  to  few,  so  that  }..  wes 

the  greatest  void  in  hiaf  immediate  circle  is  often  < ; 
forgotten. 

ELI  .  ''orn  in  Philadelphia,  in  the  year  1740.     His 

r  being  one  of  the 

' 

•mme  wi 
mo» 
recr 
colo; 
Stockton 
of  his  profession 
the  commencement  of  the 
mother  country,  he  adyocated 
hostilities  ha 

colonists.     In.  17"  1  him  comn 

prisoners,  and  in  the  same  year   he  was  elected   a  member  o; 
body.     In  November,  1782,  he  was  elected  president  of  congrev. 
in  that  capacity  signed  the  treaty  of  peace  which  was  soon  a 
concluded.     He  now  resumed  the  practice  of  the  law,  but  m 
thf  »dofition  of  the  Federnl  Constitution  he  was  agairj  ele« 
of  --impress,  and  occupied  his  seat,  by  successive  n 
yeans.     In  1796,  he  was  appointed  by  Washington 
house  as  director  of  the  mint ;   in  this  office  l.c 
when  resign  i  ng  dl  public  employment  he  rt^tir^i  *r.  I 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

The  remainder  of  his  life  BOUDINOT  passed  in  attending  to  the  affairs 
of  his  estate,  in  the  study  of  biblical  literature,  which  was  always  one 
of  his  favorite  pursuits,  and  in  the  exercise  of  a  munificent  charity, 
both  private  and  public.  He  was  a  trustee  of  Princeton  college,  and 
in  1805,  founded  in  it  a  cabinet  of  natural  history  at  the  cost  of  three 
thousand  dollars.  In  1812,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  to  which  he  presented  a 
donation  of  one  hundred  pounds  sterling.  He  was  active  in  promoting 
the  formation  of  the  American  Bible  Society,  and  in  1816,  being 
elected  its  first  president,  he  made  it  the  munificent  donation  of  ten 
thousand  dollars.  After  a  long  life  of  usefulness  Mr.  BOUDINOT  died 
on  the  twenty-fourth  of  October,  1821,  in  the  eighty-second  year  of 
his  age ;  a  sincere  and  devout  Christian,  his  death  bed  was  cheered  by 
that  religion  which  had  guided  him  through  life.  He  knew  that  his 
end  approached,  but  he  was  prepared  and  ready  to  meet  it,  and  his  last 
prayer  was,  "  Lord  Jesus,  receive  my  spirit. " 

Mr.  BOUDINOT  married  in  early  life  the  sister  of  his  preceptor, 
Richard  Stockton  ;  by  whom  he  had  an  omV  daughter,  who  survives 
him.  Mrs.  Boudinot  died  in  1808. 

In  his  last  will,  after  having  suitably  provided  for  his  daughter, 
BOUDINOT  bequeathed  the  bulk  of  his  large  property  for  the  furtherance 
of  those  objects  which  he  had  so  steadily  pursued  through  life  :  the  dif 
fusion  of  religion,  the  promotion  of  literature,  and  the  alleviation  of  the 
distresses  of  the  poor.  Four  thousand  acres  of  land  were  left  to  the 
Society  for  the  Benefit  of  the  Jews;  five  thousand  dollars  to  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  ;  four  thousand  and  eighty  acres 
for  theological  students  at  Princeton  ;  four  thousand  acres  to  the 
college  of  New  Jersey  for  the  establishment  of  fellowships  ;  three 
thousand  two  hundred  and  seventy  acres  to  the  Hospital  of  Philadel 
phia  ;  thirteen  thousand  acres  to  the  mayor  and  corporation  of  Phila 
delphia  for  the  supply  of  the  poor  with  wood  on  low  terms  ;  besides, 
numerous  other  bequests  for  religious  and  charitable  purposes. 

Mr.  BOUDINOT  is  the  author  of  several  publications,  the  principal  of 
which  is  the  "  Star  in  the  West,  or  an  attempt  to  discover  the  long  lost 
tribes  of  Israel,  preparatory  to  their  return  to  their  beloved  city  of 
Jerusalem,"  8vo.,  1816 ;  in  which  he  endeavors  to  prove  that  the  Ame 
rican  Indians  are  the  lost  tribes.  The  work  exhibits  great  benevolence 
of  feeling  towards  the  Indians,  extensive  research,  and  considerable 
•icuteness,  yet  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  his  time  and  talents  were 
wasted  upon  a  subject  so  ill  calculated  to  reward  his  labor. 


Painted  ~b\ 


JACOB 


MAJO> 

• 


chil  aid  sever 

of  Pennsylvania.    Samuel  Brown,  tb<:  of  this 

memoir,  and  the  fourth  iu  the  line  of  descend  <orge,  was  a 

man  of  high  character  and  strong  mental  endowments.     He  was  the 
third  of  .•?*•.  K;I •  !y    ••-'•'  h.   '  proi«-N>rHJ  »)•:<   principles  of  quakerisrn. 

Mis  father  left  him 


JACOB  BROW 

was  reiu 

instan fan-  nge  in  I 

manly  resolution 

of  retrieving  -is  family 

devoted  himself  assi-  • 

traced  his  soccet 

business  of  life ;   and  in   thes*;  exerts 


he  was  entrusted  with  the  management  of 

school  at  Crosswicks,  New  Jersey ; 

his  eiforts  to  improve  his  mind   W*T* 

During  the  two  next  year-  he 

country  which  now  constitutes  the  ttttn* 

laying  ova  public  lands. 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS, 

Soon  after  his  return  in  1798,  he  removed  to  the  oity  of  New 
York,  and  was  again  induced,  by  the  solicitation  of  his  friends,  to 
take  charge  of  a  school  for  a  few  months.  But  the  cultivation  of  his 
mind,  and  the  preparation  of  its  powers  for  future  action,  were  still 
the  principal  objects  of  his  exertions ;  and  at  that  excited  period  in 
the  political  history  of  the  country,  an  ample  theatre  for  improvement 
was  presented  to  him  in  the  discussion  of  the  great  topics  of  public 
interest  on  which  parties  were  divided.  He  did  not  fail  to  convert 
the  occasion  to  his  use.  He  took  a  prominent  part  in  political 
debates,  and  the  press  exhibited  frequent  essays  from  his  pen,  which 
attracted  no  inconsiderable  share  of  the  public  attention.  During 
his  residence  in  New  York,  he  commenced  the  study  of  the  law,  but 
soon  abandoned  it  as  uncongenial  with  his  disposition  for  active  and 
adventurous  pursuits.  An  opportunity  being  presented  to  him  to 
make  a  purchase  of  land  on  the  borders  of  Lake  Ontario  and  the 
river  St.  Lawrence,  in  that  part  of  the  state  of  New  York  which  is 
now  the  county  of  Jefferson,  he  established  himself  upon  it  while  it 
was  wholly  uncultivated,  and  built  the  first  human  habitation  within 
thirty  miles  of  the  lake.  Under  his  direction  the  new  settlement 
soon  became  flourishing  and  extensive ;  and  to  the  influence,  which 
he  subsequently  acquired  with  the  legislature  of  the  state  in  various 
public  situations,  which  he  filled,  the  county  of  Jefferson  owes  much 
of  its  early  prosperity  and  wealth.  Immediately  after  effecting  some 
necessary  improvements,  he  removed  his  parents  to  his  new  abode : 
he  established  them  near  him,  and  to  the  close  of  his  life  he  devoted 
himself  to  their  happiness  and  comfort. 

The  active  and  enterprising  spirit,  by  which  General  BROWN  was 
distinguished  in  his  youth,  was  chastised  by  repeated  discourage 
ments.  But  his  energy  never  for  a  moment  forsook  him ;  his  first 
and  last  acts  bear  the  same  impression  of  fearlessness  and  resolution. 
His  early  life  was  a  scene  of  constant  trial.  He  was  thrown,  when 
a  mere  youth,  upon  his  own  resources  ;  and  his  powers  were  tasked 
to  the  utmost  in  providing  simultaneously  for  his  education  and  his 
subsistence.  But  every  obstacle  was  overcome  by  the  same  firmness 
and  perseverance,  which,  in  the  progress  of  his  military  career, 
enabled  him  to  triumph  over  difficulties  far  more  trying  and 
formidable. 

In  1809,  he  was  appointed  a  colonel  in  the  militia ;  and  in  the 
following  year  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  brigadier  general. 

At  the  declaration  of  war  in  1812,  he  was  selected  to  defend  the 
eastern  frontier  of  Lake  Ontario  and  the  southern  shore  of  the  river 


JACOB  BROWN. 

St.  Lawrence,  a  line  extending  from  Oswego  to  Lake  St.  Francis, 
and  nearly  two  hundred  miles  in  length.  The  duly  imposed  on  him 
was,  from  the  exposed  condition  of  the  frontier,  highly  responsible 
and  delicate ;  and  from  the  inadequate  means  at  his  disposal,  it  was 
also  both  embarrassing  and  vexatious.  It  was,  however,  discharged 
with  his  characteristic  promptitude  and  vigor;  the  vulnerable  points 
were  put  in  the  best  possible  state  of  defence ;  and  on  the  4th  of 
October,  he  succeeded  in  repelling  an  attack  made  upon  him  at 
Ogdensburg,  where  he  had  fixed  his  head  quarters,  by  a  British 
force  far  superior  to  his  own  in  numbers.  In  this  affair,  the  enemy 
lost  several  men  in  killed  and  wounded,  while  on  his  own  side,  no 
one  sustained  the  least  injury. 

The  term  for  which  he  was  called  into  service  having  soon  after 
wards  expired,  he  returned  to  his  civil  pursuits  at  Brownville.  But 
his  capacity  for  war  had  attracted  the  attention  of  the  government, 
and  the  command  of  a  regiment  in  the  regular  army  was  immedi 
ately  tendered  to  him.  The  offer,  however,  from  a  determination 
on  his  own  part  to  submit  to  no  sacrifice  of  rank,  was  declined. 

In  the  spring  of  1813,  the  regular  forces  having  been  almost  wholly 
withdrawn  from  Sackett's  Harbor,  to  act  in  the  reduction  of  Little 
York  and  Fort  George,  in  Upper  Canada,  a  demonstration  against 
that  post  was  made  by  a  British  force  from  Kingston,  under  the 
command  of  Sir  George  Prevost,  and  Sir  James  Yeo.  Colonel 
Backus  of  the  dragoons,  who  had  been  left  at  Sackett's  Harbor  with 
about  four  hundred  regular  troops,  having  been  but  a  few  days  on 
the  frontier,  and  being  unacquainted  with  its  localities,  immediately 
despatched  a  message  to  General  BROWN,  who  resided  within  eight 
miles  of  the  post,  requesting  him,  in  a  noble  spirit  of  disinterested 
ness,  to  come  and  take  the  command,  and  to  bring  with  him  as  large 
a  body  of  the  militia,  as  he  could  assemble.  To  this  request,  alike 
honorable  to  both  parties,  an  immediate  assent  was  given.  Colonel 
Backus  was  promptly  reinforced  by  several  hundred  men  of  General 
BROWN'S  brigade,  and  their  united  forces  were  disposed  by  the 
general  with  admirable  skill  and  judgment.  The  attack  of  the 
enemy  was  fierce,  and  for  a  time  successful ;  but  after  a  series  of 
skilful  and  spirited  movements  on  the  part  of  General  BROWN,  and  a 
most  gallant  and  resolute  resistance  by  the  regular  troops,  tho  British 
forces  were  completely  vanquished,  and  retreated  precipitately  to 
their  boats.  The  British  loss  was  about  four  hundred  and  fifty, 
while  that  of  the  American  force  was  only  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
six.  Amons;  the  slain  was  the  brave  and  chivalrous  Backus,  whc- 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

fell,  animating  the  courage  of  his  men  by  gallant  exhibitions  of  his 
own. 

General  BROWN  again  retired  to  his  rural  abode  and  occupations, 
and  in  the  month  of  August  ensuing,  he  was  appointed  a  brigadier- 
general  in  the  regular  army.  He  descended  the  St.  Lawrence  in  the 
fall  of  the  same  year,  on  the  expedition  against  Montreal,  which  was 
frustrated  by  a  want  of  concert  and  cooperation  between  the  com 
manding  generals  of  the  two  divisions  of  the  northern  army. 

Early  in  1814,  General  BROWN  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
major-general,  and  was  placed  in  command  of  the  northern  division 
of  the  army  at  French  Mills.  The  military  reputation  of  the 
country  was  at  this  period  exceedingly  depressed.  The  principal 
enterprises,  in  which  our  forces  were  embarked  during  the  latter 
part  of  the  year  1813,  had  proved  abortive ;  and  a  strong  feeling  of 
disappointment  had  taken  possession  of  the  public  mind — a  feeling 
rendered  more  acute  by  the  confident  hopes,  with  which  they  had 
been  undertaken.  The  officers  of  the  army  were  deeply  chagrined, 
both  on  account  of  the  ill  success  attending  the  expeditions  referred 
to,  and  the  unfavorable  impression  which  prevailed  with  regard  to 
their  military  capacity.  General  BROWN  labored  during  the  winter, 
to  inspire  his  subordinates  with  a  resolution  to  retrieve  the  reputation 
of  the  army ;  he  had  the  good  fortune  to  gain  their  confidence,  and, 
with  the  aid  of  many  spirited  and  efficient  coadjutors,  he  succeeded 
not  only  in  renewing  the  spirit  of  the  northern  army,  but  in  uniting 
to  it  that  mechanical  discipline,  which  was  indispensable  to  give  it 
effect.  To  these  exertions  are  to  be  ascribed  the  brilliant  triumphs, 
which  he  subsequently  achieved. 

In  the  spring  of  1814,  he  marched  his  division  from  French  Mills 
to  Sackett's  Harbor,  and  thence  to  Buffalo,  and  after  executing  a  few 
necessary  preparations,  he  crossed  the  Niagara  river  and  carried 
Fort  Erie,  which  surrendered  without  any  resistance. 

On  the  5th  of  July,  General  BROWN  fought  the  battle  of  Chippewa, 
the  first  in  that  series  of  distinguished  successes,  which  have  so 
eminently  contributed  to  exalt  our  military  character.  The  British 
forces  had  made  a  rapid  advance  from  the  Chippewa  with  the  hope 
of  finding  the  American  commander  unprepared  for  their  reception, 
and  were  hardly  formed  in  line,  when  General  Scott  was  ordered  to 
make  an  attack  with  the  first  brigade.  The  combat  was  maintained 
with  great  gallantry  on  both  sides  in  the  open  field,  where  victory 
must  necessarily  turn  on  superior  bravery  or  skill.  After  a  brief,  but 
sanguinary  conflict,  and  before  the  second  brigade  under  General 


JACOB   BROWN. 

Ripley  could  be  brought  into  the  field,  the  whole  British  force  was 
routed,  and  retired  precipitately  under  cover  of  their  works  on  the 
Chippewa  creek,  which  alone  secured  them  from  total  destruction. 

On  the  evening  of  the  25th  of  July,  the  two  armies  again  met  at 
Niagara,  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  falls.  General  BROWN 
had  sent  forward  General  Scott  with  his  brigade  to  divert  the  enemy 
from  the  design  of  crossing  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  strait,  for  the 
purpose  of  seizing  upon  the  depot  of  the  American  army,  and  thus 
cutting  off  their  supplies  of  munitions  and  subsistence.  The  mo 
ment  General  Scott  came  in  sight  of  the  enemy,  he  made  an  attack, 
and  despatched  intelligence  to  General  BROWN,  who  was  in  a  few 
minutes  on  the  field,  followed  by  General  Ripley's  brigade.  The 
combat  now  became  obstinate  and  bloody  beyond  all  parallel.  It 
was  fought  like  the  battle  of  Chippewa,  in  the  open  field,  but  with 
advantages  on  the  part  of  the  enemy,  against  which  nothing  but 
superior  courage  and  skilfulness  in  evolution  could  have  prevailed. 
Here,  as  at  Chippewa,  the  American  army  was  completely  victorious. 
The  enemy  had  chosen  his  own  ground ;  he  was  attacked  in  a  com 
manding  position,  which  he  had  occupied  with  superior  numbers, 
and  which  was  sheltered  by  a  height  elevated  above  the  surrounding 
country,  and  garnished  with  artillery.  From  this  position  he  was 
driven  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  his  cannon  captured,  and  his 
forces  completely  put  to  rout.  After  this  discomfiture,  he  was  rein 
forced  by  fresh  troops  from  Fort  George  and  Q,ueenston,  and  made 
three  unsuccessful  attempts  to  regain  possession  of  the  height  by 
charging  the  American  line.  The  two  last  charges  were  among  the 
most  desperate  in  the  annals  of  warfare.  They  were  decided 
entirely  by  the  bayonet,  and  the  result  is  the  best  evidence  of  thi» 
firmness  and  spirit,  which  animated  the  contending  parties. 

The  skill  evinced  by  General  BROWN  in  meeting  all  the  fluctua 
tions  of  the  battle  with  such  movements  as  were  necessary  to  coun 
teract  the  advantages  of  his  opponents,  and  to  give  effect  to  his  own  ; 
the  coolness,  with  which  he  executed  his  plans ;  and  the  spirit  of 
self-devotion,  in  which  he  maintained  his  position  at  the  head  of  his 
troops  until  the  victory  was  complete,  although  he  had  received  two 
severe  wounds,  and  was  so  much  exhausted  by  the  loss  of  blood, 
that  he  was  supported  on  his  horse  by  the  members  of  his  military 
family;  have  given  him  a  high  and  enviable  rank  in  the  military 
history  of  his  country. 

It  was  not  until  the  2d  of  September  that  he  was  sufficiently 
recovered  from  his  wounds  to  resume  the  command  of  the  army.  It 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

was  then  enclosed  within  the  walls  of  Fort  Erie,  environed  by 
superior  numbers,  worn  down  by  a  long  and  harrassing  siege,  desti 
tute  of  necessaries  as  well  as  comforts,  deficient  in  munitions  of  war 
and  abandoned,  as  it  were,  to  its  own  efforts.  The  enemy's  force 
amounted  nearly  to  four  thousand  men,  while  the  American  army 
did  not  exceed  half  that  number.  With  this  inferior  force,  enfeebled 
by  laborious  service,  General  BROWN,  after  having  executed  all  his 
preparations  with  profound  secresy,  made  a  sortie  on  the  17th  Sep 
tember,  at  midday,  drove  the  besiegers  from  their  entrenchments,  and 
either  destroyed  or  rendered  their  works  totally  unserviceable.  The 
loss  of  the  enemy  was  one  thousand,  and  that  of  the  American  army 
five  hundred.  On  the  21st,  the  enemy  abandoned  his  position,  and 
retired  beyond  the  Chippcwa.  Thus  was  executed  one  of  the  most 
brilliant  achievements  of  the  war,  and  it  may  be  said  to  have 
crowned  the  other  successes  on  the  Niagara  frontier,  in  which  there 
had  been  a  successive  display  of  firmness,  intrepidity  and  persever 
ing  resolution,  with  an  instance  of  boldness  as  spirited  as  any  to  be 
found  on  the  records  of  modern  warfare. 

General  BROWN  was  eminently  qualified  to  excel  in  the  military 
profession.  With  a  constitutional  insensibility  to  fear,  he  united  a 
moral  courage,  which  was  equally  proof  against  surprise  or  intimi 
dation.  Responsibility  he  never  feared ;  he  was  always  ready  to  meet 
any  emergency  however  remotely  connected  with  the  discharge  of 
his  duty  to  his  country,  or  to  himself;  nor  could  any  obstacle,  how 
ever  formidable,  deter  him  from  the  execution  of  his  objects.  Indeed, 
it  was  on  the  most  trying  occasions,  that  he  appeared  to  the  best 
advantage ;  when  dangers  were  greatest,  his  coolness  and  resolution 
were  most  conspicuous.  With  all  the  energy  and  vigor  which  dis 
tinguished  his  plans,  they  were  never  rash  or  imprudent ;  he  nevei 
embarked  in  an  enterprise  without  fortifying  it  with  such  means  of 
achievement,  as  might,  with  skilful  management  and  unshaken 
firmness,  be  safely  relied  on,  as  adequate  to  the  execution  of  his 
object. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  General  BROWN  never  failed  in  any 
enterprise  which  he  conducted  himself,  or  which  he  caused  to  be 
executed  under  the  direction  of  others.  Every  partisan  movement 
undertaken  by  his  orders,  by  officers  chosen  by  himself,  was  success 
ful.  He  was,  in  truth,  not  less  remarkable  for  the  sagacity  with 
which  he  selected  the  individuals  best  calculated  for  the  particular 
service  to  be  performed,  than  for  the  promptness  with  which  he 
always  resolved  on  the  right  course  of  action  in  different  emergencies 


JACOB  BROWN. 

The  vigor  which  he  infused  into  his  offensive  movements,  was 
altogether  unlocked  for  by  the  British  generals  on  the  Niagara. 
The  .operations  of  the  American  army  had  in  general  been  vacillat 
ing  and  dilatory ;  and  the  effect  of  General  BROWN'S  movements 
was,  for  this  reason,  the  more  decisive.  The  firmness  with  which 
the  British  forces  were  encountered  on  the  open  field  of  battle,  was  also 
wholly  unexpected.  It  had  been  vauntingly  said  that  the  "  British 
bayonet  was  irresistible ;"  but  on  the  Niagara,  man  was  opposed  to 
man.  and  the  tide  of  victory  was  more  than  once  turned  against  the 
British  forces  by  the  very  weapon  to  which  they  appealed  as  the  test 
of  their  invincibility. 

At  the  close  of  the  war,  General  BROWN  was  retained  in  the  com 
mand  of  the  northern  division  of  the  army,  and  after  the  reduction 
of  the  peace  establishment  in  1821,  he  became  commander-in-chief. 
From  that  time  he  resided  in  the  city  of  Washington  until  the  24th 
February,  1828,  when  he  fell  a  victim  to  an  attack  brought  on  by  a 
disease  which  he  contracted  at  Fort  Erie,  and  from  the  effects  of 
which  he  was  never  exempt  until  it  terminated  his  life. 

In  person.  General  BROWN  was  tall,  erect,  and  commanding ;  his 
countenance  was  animated  and  full  of  intelligence ;  and  it  was  not 
difficult  to  trace  in  its  strong  and  decided  expression,  that  energy  of 
character,  which  he  has  so  deeply  impressed  on  the  actions  of  his  life. 

The  impression  made  upon  the  public  mind  by  General  BROWN'S 
decease,  while  yet  in  the  full  vigor  of  manhood,  was  deep  and 
universal ;  an  impression  corresponding  with  his  high  character,  and 
unsullied  fame.  The  estimation  in  which  he  was  held  by  those  with 
whom  he  was  most  immediately  connected  by  official  relations,  will 
be  best  illustrated  by  the  following  general  order,  issued  by  the 
direction  of  the  president  of  the  United  States  on  the  occasion  of  his 
decease. 

"  DEPARTMENT  OF  WAR,        ) 
February  28M,  1828.  $ 

ORDERS. 

"  The  secretary  of  war,  by  direction  of  the  president  of  the  United 
States,  announces  to  the  army  the  painful  intelligence  of  the  decease 
(the  24th  of  February)  of  Major-General  BROWN. 

"  To  say  that  he  was  one  of  the  men  who  have  rendered  most  im 
portant  services  to  his  country,  would  fall  far  -<hort  of  the  tribute 
due  to  his  character.  Uniting  with  the  most  unaffected  simplicity, 
the  highest  degree  of  personal  valor,  and  of  intellectual  energy,  he 

7  VOL.  2.— O 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

stands  preeminent  before  the  world,  and  for  after  ages,  in  that  band 
of  heroic  spirits,  who,  upon  the  ocean  and  the  land,  formed  and  sus- 
tained;  during  the  second  war  with  Great  Britain,  the  martial 
reputation  of  their  country.  To  this  high  and  honorable  purpose, 
General  BROWN  may  be  truly  said  to  have  sacrificed  his  life  ;  for  the 
disease  which  abridged  his  days,  and  has  terminated  his  career  at  a 
period  scarcely  beyond  the  meridian  of  manhood,  undoubtedly  origi 
nated  in  the  hardships  of  his  campaigns  on  the  Canada  frontier,  and 
in  that  glorious  wound,  which,  though  desperate,  could  not  remove 
him  from  the  field  of  battle,  till  it  was  won. 

"  Quick  to  perceive,  sagacious  to  anticipate,  prompt  to  decide,  and 
daring  in  execution,  he  was  born  with  the  qualities  which  constitute 
a  great  commander.  His  military  coup  d'oeuil,  his  intuitive  penetra 
tion,  his  knowledge  of  men,  and  his  capacity  to  control  them,  were 
known  to  all  his  companions  in  arms,  and  commanded  their  respect, 
while  the  gentleness  of  his  disposition,  the  courtesy  of  his  deport 
ment,  his  scrupulous  regard  to  their  rights,  his  constant  attention  to 
their  wants,  and  his  affectionate  attachment  to  their  persons,  uni 
versally  won  their  hearts,  and  bound  them  to  him  as  a  father. 

"  Calm  and  collected  in  the  presence  of  the  enemy,  he  was,  withal, 
tender  of  human  life  ;  in  the  hour  of  battle,  more  sparing  of  the  blood 
of  the  soldier  than  his  own.  In  the  hour  of  victory,  the  vanquished 
enemy  found  in  him  a  humane  and  compassionate  friend ;  not  one 
drop  of  blood,  shed  in  wantonness  or  cruelty,  sullies  the  purity  of  his 
fame.  Defeat  he  was  never  called  to  endure ;  but  in  the  crisis  of 
difficulty  and  danger,  he  displayed  untiring  patience  and  fortitude, 
not  to  be  overcome. 

"  Such  was  the  great  and  accomplished  captain  whose  loss  the  army 
has  now,  in  common  with  their  fellow  citizens  of  all  classes,  to  de 
plore.  While  indulging  the  kindly  impulses  of  nature,  and  yielding 
the  tribute  of  a  tear  upon  his  grave,  let  it  not  be  permitted  to  close 
upon  his  bright  example,  as  it  must  upon  his  mortal  remains.  Let 
him  be  more  nobly  sepulchred  in  the  hearts  of  his  fellow  soldiers, 
and  his  imperishable  monument  be  found  in  their  endeavors  to 
emulate  his  virtues. 

"  The  officers  of  the  army  will  wear  the  badge  of  mourning  for  six 
months  on  the  left  arm,  and  hilt  of  the  sword.  Guns  will  be  fired 
at  each  military  post,  at  intervals  of  thirty  minutes  from  the  rising 
to  the  setting  of  the  sun,  on  the  day  succeeding  the  arrival  of  this 
order,  during  which,  the  national  flag  will  be  suspended  at  half  mast." 

J.  A.  D. 


f*  >:      :  ..Ik' wing  pa  ores  we  shall  eixKa^r  4o  pnawr&i  *  * 

itj'i  character  of  ABBOTT  LAWRENCE,  now  that  th<*  jffnvfc  u«u» 
vlosetl  over  are  yet  fresh  in  the  memory 

of  hi.- 

aame  of  Lawrence  is  ont»  cf  the  enrUest  to  he  found  among 
the  Puritan  settlers  of  Massachusetts.  John  Lawrence,  the  first  emi 
grant  of  the  name,  was  established  in  Watertown  as  early  as  1635, 


sent  memoir      I:*-,     v^ 

Revolution.,  On^the  ofe*K-:^  '** 

he  was  among  the  first  to 

of  heroes  who  accompanied  Colonel 

the  battle  of  Bunker's  Hill.     His  regime  • 

hottest  of  the  action,  being  stationed  at  the 

point  of  attack.     It  had  nearly  proved  a  fatal 

dier,  who,  besides  a  wound  in  the  »TMI«  had  hi?  ha 

ball,  which  grazed  his  tempi-  s  and  carried  off 

remained  in  the  army  till   1778,  til:  v-g  the  p^ 

General  Sullivan  at  Rhode  Island.     He  was  » 

,  ...        .  ,-, 


venera 

bons  in 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

of  obedience,  with  deeply-seated  religious  principles,  which  she  suc 
ceeded  in  communicating  to  her  children.  "  Her  form,"  to  quote  the 
language  of  a  descendant,  "  bending  over  the  bed  of  her  children  in 
silent  prayer,  when  she  was  about  leaving  them  for  the  night,  is  still 
among  the  earliest  of  their  recollections." 

ABBOTT,  the  fourth  son,  was  born  in  Groton,  on  the  16th  of  De 
cember,  1792.  His  education,  begun  at  the  district  school,  was  com 
pleted  at  the  Groton  Academy,  of  which  his  father  had  been  a  trustee 
for  more  than  thirty  years,  and  which  now,  in  grateful  commemoration 
of  the  endowments  it  has  received  from  the  members  of  that  family, 
bears  the  name  of  the  Lawrence  Academy. 

We  have  few  accounts  of  Mr.  LAWRENCE'S  earlier  days.  In  a  pass 
ing  notice  of  them  in  a  letter  of  his  brother  Amos,  written  many 
years  after,  the  writer  says,  "  I  well  remember  him  as  the  guiding 
spirit  of  the  boys  of  our  neighborhood  in  breaking  through  the  deep 
snow-drifts  which  often  blocked  up  the  roads  in  winter."  The  fear 
lessness  and  buoyant  disposition  thus  noticed  in  the  boy  were  the  cha 
racteristics  of  the  man  in  later  life. 

In  1808  it  was  resolved  to  send  him  to  Boston  and  place  him  in  the 
store  of  his  elder  brother,  Mr.  Amos  Lawrence,  who  had  been  for 
some  years  established  there  in  business  as  an  importer  of  English 
goods.  There  could  have  been  no  better  mentor  to  watch  over  the 
warm-hearted  and  inexperienced  youth,  thus  drawn  from  his  village 
obscurity  to  be  thrown  upon  the  trials  and  temptations  of  the  world. 
It  is  unnecessary  to  speak  of  the  character  of  this  brother,  now  so 
widely  known  from  a  biography  which  may  'claim  to  be  one  of  the 
most  graceful  tributes  ever  paid  by  filial  piety  to  the  memory  of  a 
parent. 

ABBOTT  was  cordially  welcomed  by  his  brother,  who  from  that  hour 
watched  over  his  steps  in  earlier  days  with  a  father's  solicitude,  and 
who  followed  his  career  in  later  life  with  feelings  of  pride  and  generous 
sympathy.  "My  brother  came  to  me  as  my  apprentice,"  says  Mr. 
Amos  Lawrence,  in  his  Diary,  "  bringing  his  bundle  under  his  arm, 
with  less  than  three  dollars  in  his  pocket,  (and  this  was  his  fortune.) 
A  first-rate  business  lad  he  was,  but,  like  other  bright  lads,  needed  the 
careful  eye  of  a  senior  to  guard  him  from  the  pitfalls  he  was  exposed 
to."  The  following  year  their  brother  William  came  to  Boston  also, 
to  seek  his  fortune  in  the  capital  of  New  England.  Their  father,  on 
this  occasion,  impressed  on  his  three  sons  the  importance  of  unity, 
quoting  the  pertinent  language  of  Scripture,  "a  threefold  cord  is  not 
quickly  broken;"  a  precept  which  they  religiously  observed,  living 


ABBOTT  LAWRENCE. 

always  together  in  that  beautiful  harmony  which  proved  one  great 
source  of  their  prosperity. 

After  somewhat  more  than  five  years  had  elapsed,  Mr.  Amos  Law 
rence  was  so  well  satisfied  with  the  sobriety  and  diligence  of  ABBOTT, 
and  with  his  capacity  for  business,  that  he  proposed  to  take  him  into 
partnership.  He  furnished  the  whole  capital,  amounting  to  fifty 
thousand  dollars — the  fruits  of  his  judicious  management  since  his 
establishment  in  Boston.  The  times  were  by  no  means  encouraging ; 
for  we  were  then  in  the  midst  of  our  war  with  England.  But  every 
thing  seemed  to  prosper  under  the  prudent  direction  of  Mr.  Lawrence. 
Scarcely,  however,  had  the  articles  of  copartnership  been  signed  than 
the  Bramble  news  created  a  panic  that  fearfully  affected  the  prices  of 
goods.  The  stock  of  the  firm  depreciated  to  such  an  extent  that 
ABBOTT  looked  on  himself  as  already  a  bankrupt.  His  brother, 
touched  with  his  distress,  offered  at  once  to  cancel  the  copartnership 
indentures,  and  to  pay  him,  moreover,  five  thousand  dollars  at  the  end 
of  the  year.  But  ABBOTT  had  a  spirit  equal  to  his  own,  and  told 
his  brother  that  he  had  taken  part  with  him  for  better  or  worse, 
and  that,  come  what  might,  he  would  not  swerve  from  the  contract. 
The  generosity  and  manly  spirit  shown  by  the  two  brothers  on  this 
occasion  gave  augury  of  the  complete  success  which  crowned  their 
operations  in  after-life.  But  success  was  still  deferred,  as  things  wore 
a  gloomy  aspect  during  the  war. 

Most  of  the  younger  men  of  the  city  at  this  time  were  enrolled  in 
the  militia,  which  was  constantly  on  duty,  and  liable  at  any  moment 
to  be  called  into  active  service.  Mr.  ABBOTT  LAWRENCE  had  joined 
the  independent  company  of  the  New  England  Guards ;  a  corps 
remarked  for  its  excellent  appointments,  and  commanded  by  men 
more  than  one  of  whom  afterwards  rose  to  eminence — not,  however, 
in  the  military  profession,  but  in  the  law.  He  was  one  of  the  few  of 
the  company  he  had  joined  who  remained  long  enough  on  duty  to 
entitle  them  to  the  bounty  of  land  in  the  West  offered  by  the  general 
government.  The  soldier's  life  had  something  in  it  captivating  to  the 
imagination  of  an  ardent,  high-spirited  youth ;  and  the  profession  of 
arms,  in  the  present  condition  of  the  country,  offered  a  more  splendid 
career  for  enterprise  than  was  to  be  found  in  commercial  pursuits. 
With  his  brother's  consent,  he  proposed  to  enter  the  service,  and 
applied  to  the  War  Department  at  Washington  to  obtain  a  commis 
sion.  Happily,  before  receiving  an  answer,  the  news  of  peace  arrived, 
and  all  thoughts  of  a  military  life  were  abandoned.  Mr.  LAWRENCE 
used  to  regard  this  almost  in  the  light  of  a  providential  interposition 


NATIONAL  PORTRAITS. 

in  his  behalf.  It  was,  indeed,  the  crisis  of  his  fate.  The  long  peace 
which  followed  condemned  the  soldier  to  an  inactivity  that  left  him 
no  laurels  to  win,  except,  indeed,  such  as  might  be  gathered  from  a 
skirmish  with  the  savages,  or  from  the  patient  endurance  of  priva 
tions  on  some  distant  frontier  post.  Mr.  LAWRENCE  was  reserved 
for  a  happier  destiny. 

On  the  return  of  peace,  the  two  brothers  saw  at  once  the  new 
field  that  was  opened  for  foreign  importations;  and  the  younger 
partner,  commissioned  to  purchase  goods  at  Manchester,  embarked  in 
the  Milo — the  first  vessel  that,  after  the  proclamation  of  the  peace, 
left  Boston  for  England.  The  passage  was  a  short  one,  but  long 
enough  for  Mr.  LAWRENCE  to  ingratiate  himself  not  only  with  the 
officers,  but  with  the  crew,  whose  good-will  he  secured,  as  one  of  their 
number  lately  informed  the  writer  of  this  notice,  by  his  liberal  acts  no 
less  than  by  the  kindness  of  his  manners.  With  characteristic  ardor, 
he  was  the  first  to  leap  on  shore — being  thus,  perhaps,  the  first  Ame 
rican  who  touched  his  fatherland  after  the  war  was  ended.  He  met 
with  a  cordial  welcome  from  people  who  were  glad  to  see  their 
commercial  relations  restored  with  the  United  States.  Hastening  to 
Manchester,  Mr.  LAWRENCE  speedily  made  his  purchases,  and  returned 
to  Liverpool  the  evening  only  before  the  departure  of  the  Milo  on  her 
homeward  voyage.  He  at  once  engaged  a  lighter  to  take  him  and  his 
merchandise  to  the  vessel.  When  he  came  alongside,  the  mate  plainly 
told  him  there  was  no  room  for  his  goods ;  the  cargo  was  all  on  board, 
and  the  hatches  were  battened  down.  But  Mr.  LAWRENCE  would  re 
ceive  no  denial.  This,  he  said,  was  his  first  voyage,  and  the  result  was 
of  the  greatest  importance  to  him.  He  pressed  his  suit  with  so  much 
earnestness,  yet  good- nature,  that  the  mate,  whose  good-will  he  had 
won  on  the  passage,  consented  at  last  to  receive  the  goods.  Mr.  LAW 
RENCE  lost  no  time  in  profiting  by  this  indulgence,  and  joined  his  men 
in  pulling  vigorously  at  the  tackle,  to  hoist  the  bales  on  board. 
Having  safely  lodged  them  on  the  deck,  he  made  at  once  for  the 
shore,  asking  no  questions  how  they  were  to  be  stored.  The  Milo  had 
a  short  passage  back.  In  eighty-four  days  from  the  time  when  she 
had  left  her  port  in  the  United  States,  the  goods  were  landed  in  Bos 
ton,  and  in  less  than  a  week  were  disposed  of  at  an  enormous  profit. 
His  brother  was  delighted  with  the  good  judgment  he  had  shown  and 
his  extraordinary  despatch.  "  You  are  as  famous,"  he  pleasantly 
wrote  to  him,  "  among  your  acquaintances  here,  for  the  rapidity  of 
your  movements,  as  Bonaparte." 

This  little  anecdote  is  eminently  characteristic  of  the  man,  showing. 


ABBOTT  LAWRENCE. 

as  it  does,  the  sanguine  temper  and  energy  of  will  wliicli,  combined 
with  kindness  of  heart,  gained  him  an  influence  over  others  and 
formed  the  elements  of  his  future  success. 

He  remained  some  time  longer  in  England,  extending  his  acquaint 
ance  with  men  of  business,  but  still  living  as  an  unknown  individual  in 
the  midst  of  the  scenes  which  he  was  afterwards  to  revisit  clothed 
with  an  authority  that  placed  him  on  a  level  with  the  proudest  nobles 
of  the  land. 

Several  times  he  repeated  his  voyage  to  England,  and  always  with 
the  same  good  results.  Under  the  judicious  management  and  enter 
prise  of  the  house,  its  business  became  every  day  more  widely  extended, 
and  the  fortunes  of  the  brothers  rapidly  increased. 

In  June,  1819,  an  important  event  took  place  in  Mr.  ABBOTT  LAW 
RENCE'S  life.  This  was  his  marriage  with  Miss  Katharine  Bigelow,  the 
eldest  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Timothy  Bigelow,  an  eminent  lawyer,  who 
filled  for  many  years  the  office  of  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  of  Massachusetts.  He  was  a  man  of  high  legal  attainments,  and 
singularly  fitted  for  his  political  station  by  his  ready  apprehension,  his 
tenacious  memory,  and  his  familiarity  with  business.  Mr.  LAWRENCE'S 
acquaintance  with  his  wife  had  begun  in  childhood ;  for  she  was  a 
native  of  Groton,  like  himself,  though,  long  before  this  period,  her 
father  had  transferred  his  residence  to  Medford,  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Boston.  It  was  a  most  happy  union,  continuing  for  more  than 
thirty-five  years,  until  it  was  dissolved  by  death.  In  the  partner  of 
his  choice  he  found  the  qualities  of  a  true  and  loving  wife,  ever  ready 
to  share  with  him  all  his  joys  and  sorrows ;  for  the  lot  of  the  most 
fortunate  has  its  sorrows,  and  sharp  ones.  These  feelings  he  on  his 
part  returned,  from  first  to  last,  with  the  warmth  and  single-hearted 
devotion  which  belonged  to  his  noble  nature. 

During  the  last  five  years  an  important  change  had  gradually  taken 
place  in  the  internal  relations  of  the  country,  owing  to  the  system  of 
domestic  protection  which  now  began  to  be  recognised  as  a  leading 
feature  in  the  policy  of  the  government.  The  sagacious  minds  of  the 
Lawrences  were  quick  to  perceive  the  influence  this  must  exert  on  the 
channels  of  trade,  and  the  important  bearing  it  must  have,  in  par 
ticular,  on  the  people  of  New  England,  whose  industry  and  ingenuity 
so  well  fitted  them  for  proficiency  in  the  mechanical  arts.  They 
leaned,  too,  with  greater  confidence  than  was  justified  by  the  event,  on 
the  stability  of  the  protective  policy.  The  encouragement  was  espe 
cially  felt  in  the  cotton  and  woollen  manufactures,  then  almost  exclu 
sively  confined  to  New  England.  With  characteristic  energy,  the 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

brothers  accordingly  resolved  to  give  up  their  business  as  importers, 
and  employ  their  capital  henceforth  in  domestic  manufactures. 
Associating  their  names  with  those  of  the  Lowells,  the  Jacksons,  the 
Appletons,  and  other  sagacious  men  of  the  same  way  of  thinking 
with  themselves,  they  devoted  all  their  energies  to  foster  this  great 
branch  of  the  national  industry.  Under  these  auspices,  towns  and 
villages  grew  up  along  the  borders  of  the  Merrimac  and  its  numerous 
tributaries ;  and  the  spots  which  had  once  been  little  better  than 
barren  wastes  of  sand,  where  the  silence  was  broken  only  by  the 
moaning  of  the  wind  through  the  melancholy  pines,  became  speedily 
alive  with  the  cheerful  hum  of  labor. 

Mr.  LAWRENCE  had  too  large  a  mind  to  embark  in  this  new  enter 
prise  with  the  feelings  of  a  sordid  speculator  intent  only  on  selfish 
gains.  He  took  a  more  expansive  view,  founded  on  just  principles  of 
political  economy.  He  saw  the  resources  which  this  new  field  of 
domestic  industry  would  open  to  the  country;  the  new  markets  it 
would  afford  to  the  products  of  the  farmer ;  the  independence  it  would 
give  the  nation  of  foreign  countries,  on  which  it  had  hitherto  relied 
for  those  fabrics  which  were  the  necessaries  of  life ;  the  employment 
it  would  give  to  thousands  of  operatives  in  the  North,  who  would  find 
here  a  field  for  talents  hitherto  unknown  to  themselves;  and  the 
benefits  it  would  confer  on  the  planters  of  the  South,  in  raising,  by 
means  of  competition,  the  prices  of  the  raw  material  they  had  to  sell. 
These  views  he  exhibited  in  his  private  correspondence  and  his  public 
addresses.  He  unfolded  them  more  at  large  in  a  well-known  series 
of  printed  letters  addressed  to  the  Hon.  William  C.  Rives,  of  Virginia, 
which  appeared  in  1846.  In  these  he  discusses  the  subject  of  a  tariff 
on  the  broadest  grounds,  enforcing  his  arguments,  according  to  his 
wont,  by  an  array  of  statistical  facts,  some  of  them  exceedingly 
striking.  Instead  of  limiting  their  application  to  his  own  part  of  the 
country,  he  particularly  directs  it  to  Virginia,  the  impoverished  con 
dition  of  whose  soil  seemed  to  call  for  some  extraordinary  action  to 
restore  the  ancient  prosperity  of  the  State.  Above  all,  he  insists  on 
the  necessity  of  the  education  of  the  poorer  classes,  as  the  only  true 
basis,  whether  in  a  moral  or  physical  point  of  view,  of  the  public 
prosperity.  On  this  last  theme  he  was  always  eloquent,  urging  it  in  his 
public  addresses,  abroad  as  well  as  at  home,  and  with  an  effect  which, 
as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  was  acknowledged  by  those  who  witnessed 
it  to  have  been  attended  with  the  happiest  results. 

In  1827  was  held  the  Harrisburg  Convention — a  meeting,  it  is 
hardly  necessary  to  say,  of  delegates  from  different  parts  of  the  Union, 


ABBOTT   LAWRENCE. 

for  the  purpose  of  taking  into  consideration  the  best  measures  for  pro 
tecting  the  manufacturing  interests  of  the  country.  Mr.  LAWRENCE, 
whose  attention  to  the  subject  and  the  soundness  of  whose  views  upon 
it  were  well  known,  was  one  of  the  seven  delegates  sent  by  Massa 
chusetts.  The  large  amount  of  practical  information  which  he 
brought  with  him  proved  of  infinite  service  in  the  deliberations  that 
followed ;  and  there  was  probably  no  one  of  the  body  who  was  more 
instrumental  in  procuring  its  sanction  to  the  memorial  which  was  laid 
before  Congress,  and  which  had  so  great  an  influence  in  determining 
the  action  of  the  government  in  respect  to  the  tariff  of  1828. 

Notwithstanding  the  interest  he  took  in  public  affairs,  and  the 
capacity  which  he  showed  for  the  management  of  them,  Mr.  LAWRENCE 
had  evinced  no  desire  to  enter  on  the 'political  arena,  or  to  hold 
office  of  any  kind.  In  1831  he  was  elected  to  the  Common  Council 
of  Boston  :  but  at  the  end  of  his  term  declined  a  re-election.  Nor  did 
he  from  that  time  ever  accept  any  place  either  under  the  city  govern 
ment  or  that  of  the  State.  In  1834,  however,  he  consented  to  stand  as 
a  candidate  for  a  seat  in  the  House  of  Representatives  at  Washington. 

On  taking  his  place  in  that  body,  he  was  at  once  put  on  the  Com 
mittee  of  Ways  and  Means,  showing  that  his  reputation  for  financial 
talent  had  already  preceded  him.  During  the  two  years  that  he 
sat  on  the  floor  of  that  house,  he  rarely  attempted  any  thing  like  a 
set  and  elaborate  speech.  When  he  did  speak,  it  was  on  topics  with 
which  he  was  familiar ;  and  his  wise  and  practical  views,  which  he 
enforced  by  arguments  not  local  or  sectional  in  their  nature,  but  em 
bracing  the  interests  of  the  whole  country,  commanded  the  deepest 
attention  of  his  audience.  His  frank  and  cordial  address,  flowing  less 
from  conventional  courtesy  than  from  the  natural  kindness  of  his 
heart,  conciliated  his  hearers;  and  that  "inestimable  temper"  which 
Gibbon  commends  so  highly  in  the  British  minister,  Lord  North,  dis 
armed  the  severity  of  his  opponents,  and  served,  like  oil  upon  the 
waters,  to  calm  the  angry  passions  of  debate.  The  same  qualities 
gave  Mr.  LAWRENCE,  out  of  the  walls  of  Congress,  an  influence  which 
proved  of  the  highest  service  to  the  cause  in  which  he  was  embarked. 
When  he  returned  home,  at  the  expiration  of  his  term,  there  was  pro 
bably  no  member  of  the  body  with  which  he  had  acted  who  possessed 
a  larger  measure  of  their  confidence  or  who  was  so  universally 
popular. 

His  constituents  testified  their  sense  of  his  services  by  inviting  him, 
on  his  return,  to  a  public  dinner.  This  he  declined  in  a  letter,  in 
which  he  touches  briefly,  but  comprehensively,  on  the  great  questions 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

that  agitated  the  public  mind  at  that  day,  showing  himself  throughout 
a  staunch  but  liberal-minded  Whig.  Notwithstanding  the  importuni 
ties  of  his  friends,  he  declined  a  re-election  to  Congress ;  nor  could  he 
be  induced  to  alter  his  purpose  by  the  remarkable  assurance  given  to 
him  by  the  members  of  the  opposite  party  that,  if  he  would  consent 
to  stand,  no  candidate  should  be  brought  out  against  him. 

Four  years  later,  however,  he  consented  to  accept  a  second  nomina 
tion,  and  again  took  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Representatives  at  Wash 
ington.  It  was  a  disastrous  session  to  him  ;  for,  shortly  after  his 
arrival,  he  was  attacked  by  typhus  fever  of  so  malignant  a  type  that, 
for  some  time,  small  hopes  were  entertained  of  his  recovery.  But  he 
had  good  advice ;  and  his  fine  constitution  and  the  care  of  his  devoted 
wife  enabled  him,  by  the  blfissing  of  Providence,  to  get  the  better  of 
his  disorder.  It  left  behind,  however,  the  seeds  of  another  malady,  in 
an  enlargement  of  the  liver,  which  caused  him  much  suffering  in  after 
life,  and  finally  brought  him  to  the  grave. 

Finding  a  southern  climate  unfavorable  to  his  health,  he  resigned 
his  seat  in  Congress,  and  returned  to  Boston,  where  he  at  once 
resumed  his  usual  avocations.  He  was  not  long  permitted  to  in 
dulge  in  a  state  of  political  inaction.  In  1842  the  convention  was 
held  for  the  settlement  of  the  Northeastern  boundary — that  vexed 
question,  which,  after  baffling  all  attempts  at  an  adjustment,  including 
those  by  means  of  royal  arbitration,  had  at  length  assumed  a  form 
which  menaced  an  open  rupture  between  the  United  States  and  Eng 
land.  Mr.  LAWRENCE  was  one  of  the  commissioners  who,  at  the  wise 
suggestion  of  Mr.  Webster,  were  sent,  by  the  States  of  Maine  and 
Massachusetts,  to  Washington,  with  full  powers  to  arrange  the  matter 
definitively  with  Lord  Ashburton,  who  had  come  out  invested  with 
similar  powers  on  behalf  of  his  own  country.  No  man  in  our  com 
munity  could  have  been  better  fitted  for  the  place  than  Mr.  LAW 
RENCE  ;  for  he  had  a  good  knowledge  of  the  subject,  was  well 
acquainted  with  the  characters  of  the  parties  who  were  to  discuss  it, 
and  possessed,  in  a  remarkable  degree,  the  qualities  for  success 
as  a  negotiator.  "  Mr.  LAWRENCE,"  said  a  distinguished  foreign 
minister,  who  had  personal  knowledge  of  his  abilities  in  this  way, 
"  had  so  much  frankness  and  cordiality  in  his  address,  and  impressed 
one  so  entirely  with  his  own  uprightness,  that  he  could  do  much  in  the 
way  of  negotiation  that  others  could  not."  There  was  an  ample  field 
for  the  exercise  of  these  powers  on  the  present  occasion,  when  pre 
judices  of  long  standing  were  to  be  encountered,  when  pretensions  of 
the  most  opposite  kind  were  to  be  reconciled,  when  the  pertinacity 


ABBOTT  LAWRENCE. 

with  which  these  pretensions  had  been  maintained  had  infused  tame- 
thing  like  a  spirit  of  acrimony  into  the  breasts  of  the  disputants.  Yet 
no  acrimony  could  stand  long  against  the  genial  temper  of  Mr.  LAW 
RENCE,  or  against  that  spirit  of  candor  and  reasonable  concession 
which  called  forth  a  reciprocity  of  sentiment  in  those  he  had  to  deal 
with.  The  influence  which  he  thus  exerted  over  his  colleagues  con 
tributed  in  no  slight  degree  to  a  concert  of  action  between  them. 
Indeed,  without  derogating  from  the  merits  of  the  other  delegates,  it 
is  not  too  much  to  say  that,  but  for  the  influence  exerted  by  Mr.  LAW 
RENCE  on  this  occasion,  the  treaty,  if  it  had  been  arranged  at  all, 
would  never  have  been  brought  into  the  shape  which  it  now  wears. 

In  the  summer  of  the  following  year,  Mr.  LAWRENCE,  whose  health 
still  felt  the  effects  of  his  illness  at  Washington,  proposed  to  recruit 
it  by  a  voyage  to  England.  He  embarked  with  his  family  on  board 
the  Columbia, — the  ill-fated  steamer  which  was  wrecked  on  Black 
Ledge,  near  Seal  Island,  in  Nova  Scotia.  All  on  board  were  fortunate 
enough  to  escape  to  land.  Five  days  they  remained  on  that  dreary 
spot,  exposed  to  wet,  hunger,  and  miseries  of  every  description.  None 
of  that  forlorn  company  will  ever  forget  the  disinterested  kindness" 
shown  by  Mr.  LAWRENCE,  and  his  courageous  and  cheerful  spirit, 
which  infused  life  into  the  most  desponding.  They  were  at  length 
transported  to  Halifax,  whence  he  proceeded  on  his  voyage.  In  Eng 
land  he  met  with  a  hearty  welcome  from  some  who  had  shared  his 
hospitality  in  the  United  States,  and  many  more  who  knew  him  only 
by  reputation,  but  who  became  his  fast  friends  in  after  life. 

On  his  return  home  he  resumed  his  business,  which  pressed  on  him 
the  more  heavily  as  it  became  more  widely  extended.  During  his 
leisure  he  was  not  so  much  engrossed  by  politics  as  not  to  give  atten 
tion  to  a  subject  which  he  always  had  much  at  heart — the  cause  of 
education.  Among  his  many  charities,  which  seemed  to  be  as  neces 
sary  to  satisfy  the  wants  of  his  own  nature  as  those  of  the  subjects  of 
them,  we  find  him  constantly  giving  away  money  to  assist  in  edu 
cating  poor  young  men  of  merit.  He  gave  two  thousand  dollars 
for  prizes  to  the  pupils  of  the  Boston  Latin  and  High  Schools.  He 
now  contemplated  a  donation,  on  a  much  larger  scale,  to  Harvard 
University.  He  was  satisfied  that,  however  liberal  the  endowments 
of  that  institution  for  objects  of  literary  culture,  no  adequate  provision 
had  been  made  for  instruction  in  science,  more  particularly  in  its  ap 
plication  to  the  useful  arts — a  deficiency  which  naturally  came  more 
readily  within  the  reach  of  his  own  observation.  In  a  remarkable 
letter  addressed  by  him  to  Mr.  Eliot,  the  treasurer  of  the  college,  ia 

9  X2 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

June,  1847,  he  explains,  with  great  beauty  and  propriety  of  language, 
his  views  on  the  subject,  and  with  no  less  precision  points  out  the  best 
mode  of  carrying  them  into  effect.  He  concludes  by  offering  the  sum 
of  fifty  thousand  dollars  for  the  endowment  of  such  a  scientific  school 
as  he  had  proposed.  This  sum  he  afterwards  doubled  by  a  provision 
to  that  effect  in  his  will,  thus  making  the  whole  donation  a  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  Large  as  was  this  sum,  its  value  was  greatly 
enhanced  by  the  wise  arrangements  made  for  its  application.  His 
suggestions  met  with  the  approval  of  the  corporation.  He^  had  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  a  building  erected  and  an  institution  organized 
on  the  principles  he  had  recommended.  Fortunately,  the  services  were 
obtained,  at  the  outset,  of  an  illustrious  scholar,  who,  by  the  consent 
of  Europe,  stood  at  the  head  of  his  department  of  science,  and  whose 
salary  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars  per  annum  was  wholly  defrayed  by 
Mr.  LAWRENCE,  in  addition  to  his  other  donations,  so  long  as  he  lived. 
A  letter  addressed  to  him  by  a  distinguished  professor  of  the  school 
gave  him  the  sweet  assurance,  in  his  last  illness,  of  the  extraordinary 
proficiency  of  the  pupils — in  other  words,  of  the  complete  success  of 
his  benevolent  enterprise ;  and  he  might  well  be  cheered  by  the  reflec 
tion  that  the  Lawrence  Scientific  School  would  perpetuate  his  name 
to  future  generations,  who  would  cherish  with  gratitude  the  memory 
of  their  benefactor. 

Mr.  LAWRENCE  was  a  member  of  the  convention  which  nominated 
Mr.  Clay  for  the  Presidency.  The  interest  he  took  in  public  affairs 
led  him  to  take  an  active  part  in  promoting  the  success  of  the  Whig 
candidate,  as  he  had  before  shown  equal  zeal  in  the  canvass  for  Gene 
ral  Harrison,  though — as  the  country  has  good  reason  to  remember — 
with  very  different  results.  In  1847,  General  Taylor  was  nominated 
as  the  Whig  candidate  for  President,  and  Mr.  Fillmore  for  Vice-Presi- 
dent.  The  history  of  the  convention  which  made  these  nominations  is 
too  familiar  to  be  recapitulated  here.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  Mr. 
LAWRENCE  had  received  assurances,  down  to  the  very  eve  of  the  elec 
tion,  which  gave  him  every  reason  to  suppose  that  he  was  to  be  named 
for  the  latter  office.  Whatever  may  have  been  his  disappointment,  he 
did  not  betray  it  by  a  word.  "Well,  I  am  perfectly  satisfied,"  was  the 
answer  he  made  to  the  friend  who  was  appointed  to  inform  him  of  the 
result :  and,  instead  of  looking  for  pretexts,  as  many,  not  to  say  most 
men,  would  have  done,  for  withdrawing  from  the  canvass,  or  at  least 
for  looking  coldly  upon  it,  he  was  among  the  first  to  join  in  a  call  for 
a  meeting  of  the  Whigs  in  Faneuil  Hall,  and  to  address  them,  in  the 
warmest  manner,  in  support  of  the  regular  ticket.  In  the  same  mag- 


10 


ABBOTT  LAWRENCE. 

nanimous  and  patriotic  spirit,  he  visited  the  principal  towns  in  the 
State,  delivering  addresses  and  using  all  his  efforts  to  secure  the 
triumph  of  the  good  cause. 

On  the  election  of  General  Taylor  to  the  chief  magistracy  of  the 
country,  the  confidence  he  reposed  in  Mr.  LAWRENCE,  and  the  promi 
nent  position  occupied  by  the  latter  in  the  party,  recommended  him  at 
once  to  a  .seat  in  the  cabinet.  The  place  of  Secretary  of  the  Navy  was 
accordingly  offered  to  him,  and  afterwards  that  of  Secretary  of  the 
Interior.  Both  offices  were  declined  by  him ;  and  when,  soon  after, 
he  was  nominated  by  the  President  to  take  the  highest  diplomatic  post 
in  the  gift  of  the  government — the  mission  to  England — he  declined 
that  also.  The  large  and  important  interests  of  which  he  had  the 
charge  made  him  see  only  the  difficulties  of  such  a  step.  The  place, 
moreover,  had  been  filled  by  distinguished  statesmen,  two  of  the  most 
recent  of  whom  stood  pre-eminent  in  the  literature  of  the  country ; 
and  Mr.  LAWRENCE  seems  to  have  exaggerated  the  qualifications  re 
quired  for  the  post,  or,  at  any  rate,  to  have  distrusted  his  own.  From 
these  various  considerations,  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  decline  the 
offer  when  pressed  upon  him  a  second  time  by  General  Taylor,  and 
announced  his  decision  to  his  friends.  But  some  of  them,  taking  a 
very  different,  and,  as  it  proved,  a  more  correct,  view  of  the  affair,  per 
suaded  him  to  review  and  subsequently  to  reverse  his  decision.  In 
the  month  of  September,  1849,  he  accordingly  embarked,  with  his 
wife  and  a  part  of  his  family,  for  England. 

Mr.  LAWRENCE'S  mission  to  the  court  of  St.  James  was  the  most 
brilliant  part  of  his  political  career,  and  fully  justified  the  sagacity  of 
those  who  advised  him  to  undertake  it.  Taking  all  circumstances  into 
consideration,  few  men  could  have  been  so  well  fitted  for  the  place. 
If  he  had  not  the  profound  scholarship  of  his  immediate  predecessors, 
he  had,  what  was  of  great  moment,  a  large  practical  acquaintance  with 
affairs  ;  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  resources  of  his  own  country  and 
of  the  country  to  which  he  was  accredited ;  a  talent  quite  remarkable, 
as  we  have  seen,  for  negotiation ;  a  genial  temper,  well  suited  to  thaw 
out  the  chilling  reserve  of  manner  too  apt  to  gather  round  the  really 
warm  heart  of  the  Englishman ;  a  generous  spirit  of  hospitality,  with 
a  fortune  to  support  it,  enabling  him  to  collect  round  him  persons  of 
most  eminence  in  the  society  of  the  capital,  and  to  bring  them  in  con 
tact  with  similar  classes  of  his  own  countrymen,  thus  happily  affording 
opportunity  for  allaying  ancient  prejudices  and  fostering  mutual  sen 
timents  of  respect  and  good-will. 

A  similar  influence  was  exerted  by  the  public  addresses  which,  from 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

time  to  time,  he  was  called  on  to  make  in  different  parts  of  the  king 
dom,  at  meetings  held  to  promote  the  great  interests  of  agriculture, 
of  manufactures,  or  of  educational  reform.  Coming  from  a  land  where 
the  people  had  made  such  progress  in  the  various  departments  of 
labor  and  mechanical  skill,  and  from  a  part  of  the  country  where 
popular  education  had  made  most  progress,  he  was  naturally  listened 
to  with  much  attention.  The  paramount  importance  of  education  for 
the  masses  was  the  theme  he  constantly  pressed  home  upon  his  hear 
ers.  Thus,  at  Manchester,  we  find  him  drawing  a  comparison  between 
the  laboring  classes  in  England  and  the  United  States  in  respect  to 
education,  and  plainly  telling  his  audience  that,  "if  England  hoped  to 
keep  her  place  in  the  van  of  civilization,  it  must  be  by  educating  the 
humblest  of  her  classes  up  to  the  highest  point  of  other  nations."  "  The 
able  as  well  as  delicate  manner,"  says  an  eminent  British  journal, 
"  in  which  Mr.  LAWRENCE  handled  this  subject,  made  a  deep  impres 
sion  on  his  auditory,  and  it  had  probably  no  inconsiderable  influence 
in  stimulating  that  highly  creditable  educational  movement  of  which 
Manchester  has  since  been  the  scene,  and  in  which  it  has  stood  out  in 
strong  contrast  to  the  other  great  towns  of  the  empire." 

We  find  him  speaking  to  the  same  purpose,  in  a  striking  passage 
often  quoted  from  the  speech  made  by  him  at  Mr.  Peabody's  dinner  at 
the  close  of  the  Great  Exhibition  in  London.  A  broader  field  for  these 
popular  addresses  was  offered  by  a  visit  which  he  made  to  Ireland  in  the 
autumn  of  1852.  The  welcome  he  received  from  the  generous-hearted 
people  was  altogether  extraordinary.  His  reputation  had  prepared 
the  way  for  it ;  and  all  were  eager  to  see  the  representative  of  a  land 
to  which  their  own  countrymen  were  flocking  as  to  a  place  of  refuge 
from  the  troubles  of  the  Old  World.  Well  might  the  Times  say  that 
"  the  American  Minister  found  himself  received  with  almost  the  honors 
of  royalty;  that  railway  directors  gave  him  special  trains,  banquets, 
and  addresses,  and  every  city  prepared  an  ovation." 

In  the  midst  of  this  festal  progress,  Mr.  LAWRENCE  was  closely  ob 
serving  the  condition  of  the  country  and  its  inhabitants,  and  drawing 
materials  for  an  elaborate  report  of  it  to  the  Department  of  State.  The 
despatch  is  of  much  length,  embodying  his  views  on  the  great  ques 
tions  of  interest  touching  the  state  of  that  unhappy  country,  the  policy 
of  the  English  government  towards  it,  and  its  probable  future;  the 
whole  accompanied  by  a  mass  of  statistical  information,  which  his 
position  gave  him  obvious  advantages  for  collecting.  This  valuable 
report  forms  one  of  numerous  despatches  of  a  similar  nature  which 
occupied  what  was  regarded  as  the  American  minister's  leisure  time 


ABBOTT   LAWRENCE. 

during  his  diplomatic  residence.  Many  of  the  papers  are  of  great 
length,  and  must  have  been  prepared  with  much  care.  Some  few  have 
been  printed  by  order  of  Congress.  The  rest  are  to  be  found  on  the 
files  of  the  Department  of  State  at  Washington.  One  has  only  to 
specify  the  titles  of  some  of  these  to  show  the  variety  of  the  topics  to 
which  they  relate.  Thus,  we  find  one  containing  curious  estimates  on 
the  comparative  cost  of  building  and  manning  merchant-ships  in  Eng 
land  and  the  United  States ;  another  on  the  guard-ships  for  the  sup 
pression  of  the  slave-trade ;  another  on  the  commerce  carried  on  with 
Africa;  two  or  three  on  the  postal  relations  of  the  country,  with 
reference  to  a  reduction  of  the  rate  of  ocean-postage  ;  another,  the 
result  of  much  consideration,  on  the  currency  of  both  England  and 
our  own  country.  Besides  these  communications  on  particular 
topics,  we  find  others,  of  a  more  general  nature,  containing  a  sur 
vey  of  the  actual  condition  of  England,  supported  by  abundant 
statistical  detail ;  with  ample  discussion  on  its  course  of  trade,  on 
the  character  of  parties,  and  the  policy  of  the  government.  The 
opportunities  of  personal  observation  enjoyed  by  Mr.  LAWRENCE 
abroad  served,  it  may  be  remarked,  to  strengthen  the  opinions  he  had 
expressed  at  home  of  the  necessity  of  a  protective  policy  by  our 
own  government  if  we  would  contend  successfully  against  the  cheaper 
labor  of  Europe.  In  this  survey  of  the  national  character  and  re 
sources,  the  despatches  of  Mr.  LAWRENCE  remind  one  of  the  reports — 
relazioni,  as  they  are  called — which  were  made,  by  order  of  their 
government,  by  the  Venetian  ambassadors,  and  which,  after  being 
read,  on  their  return,  before  the  Senate,  were  deposited  in  the  public 
archives,  where  they  furnish  some  of  the  most  authentic  materials  for 
the  historian. 

Among  the  despatches  are  two  particularly  worthy  of  consideration, 
as  relating  to  negotiations  that  opened  the  way  to  important  treaties. 
The  first  of  these  relates  to  the  fisheries.  No  sooner  had  Mr.  LAW 
RENCE  become  acquainted  with  the  course  pursued  by  the  English 
government  in  sending  out  a  fleet  of  armed  vessels  to  assert  its  mari 
time  rights  on  the  coast  of  Nova  Scotia,  than,  without  waiting  for 
instructions,  he  at  once  opened  the  matter  to  Lord  Malmesbury,  then 
Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  and  urged  the  mischievous  consequences 
likely  to  result  from  an  action  so  precipitate  and  so  menacing  in  its 
nature.  His  remonstrances  were  of  sufficient  weight  to  influence  the 
instructions  afterwards  issued  by  the  government;  and  Mr.  LAW 
RENCE'S  negotiations,  which  received  the  approval  of  the  President, 
placed  affairs  on  the  quiet  basis  on  which  they  continued  till  a  treaty 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

was  definitively  settled.  When  we  reflect  on  the  irritation  that  would 
have  been  produced  in  this  country  if  the  ill-considered  measure  of 
the  English  government  had  been  fully  carried  out,  we  cannot  doubt 
that  the  timely  and  temperate  remonstrance  of  the  American  minister 
did  much  to  save  his  country  from  a  rupture  with  Great  Britain. 

The  other  affair  concerned  Central  America — that  uneasy  question, 
which,  after  having  been  formally  disposed  of  by  treaty,  has  again 
risen,  like  a  troubled  spirit,  to  disturb  the  quiet  of  the  world.  The 
American  envoy,  in  obedience  to  instructions  from  Washington, 
brought  the  subject  before  Lord  Palmerston  as  early  as  November, 
1849.  He  obtained  from  that  minister  an  assurance  that  Great 
Britain  had  no  design  to  occupy  or  colonize  any  part  of  Central 
America,  and  that  she  would  willingly  enter  into  a  guarantee  with  the 
United  States  for  the  neutrality  of  the  proposed  canal  across  the 
Isthmus.  But  Mr.  LAWRENCE  was  quick  to  perceive  that  these  assu 
rances  would  fail  to  answer  the  purpose,  unless  Great  Britain  would 
consent  to  abandon  her  shadowy  protectorate  over  the  Mosquito  In 
dians.  He  accordingly  made  this  the  subject  of  a  particular  repre 
sentation  in  more  than  one  interview  with  the  English  minister ;  and 
he  further  urged  the  abandonment  of  the  protectorate  on  the  strongest 
grounds  of  policy  in  a  long  and  able  communication  to  Lord  Palmer 
ston,  dated  December  14,  1849.  To  this  letter  he  received  no  reply, 
and,  early  in  the  following  year,  it  being  thought  there  were  greater 
facilities  for  conducting  the  negotiation  in  this  country  than  in  Eng 
land,  it  was  removed,  for  a  final  adjustment  of  the  affair,  to  Washington. 

Meanwhile  Mr.  LAWRENCE  had  been  diligently  preparing  a  commu 
nication  for  his  own  government — since  printed  by  order  of  the 
Senate — the  object  of  which  was  to  trace  to  its  origin  the  British 
claim  to  the  exercise  of  a  protectorate  over  the  Mosquito  territory. 
In  doing  this,  he  travelled  over  a  vast  field  of  historical  research, 
showing  the  first  occupation  of  the  territory  by  the  Spaniards,  its 
subsequent  invasion  by  the  English,  and  establishing,  to  the  conviction 
of  every  unprejudiced  mind,  that  Great  Britain  never  did  possess  any 
legal  right  to  the  qualified  dominion  which  she  claimed  as  protector 
of  the  Indians;  and  that,  if  she  had  possessed  it,  this  would  signify 
nothing,  since,  by  an  express  treaty  with  Spain,  she  had  formally 
renounced  such  right.  By  a  singular  coincidence,  this  remarkable 
state-paper  is  dated  on  the  19th  of  April,  1850,  being  precisely  the 
same  date  with  that  of  the  Clayton-Bulwer  treaty. 

This  latter  instrument,  confining  itself  to  the  simple  object  of  a 
guarantee  for  a  canal  across  the  Isthmus,  makes  no  provision  for  the 

14 


ABBOTT   LAWRENCE. 

Mosquito  question,  though  by  an  incidental  allusion  it  appears  to  re 
cognize  the  existence  of  a  protectorate.  Indeed,  it  seems  to  have  done 
nothing  more  than  carry  out  the  details  of  the  arrangement  to  which 
Lord  Palmerston  professed  his  readiness  to  accede  in  his  first  commu 
nication  to  Mr.  LAWRENCE.  But,  as  the  latter  wisely  foresaw,  so  im 
portant  an  element  in  the  discussion  as  the  Mosquito  protectorate 
could  not  be  winked  out  of  sight ;  and,  as  it  now  appears,  the  absence 
of  so  material  a  link  in  the  chain  of  negotiations  has  made  the  other 
provisions  of  the  treaty  of  little  worth. 

The  pressing  nature  of  Mr.  LAWRENCE'S  private  affairs  made  him 
at  length,  after  an  absence  of  three  years,  desirous  of  returning  home. 
Indeed,  he  could  not  have  postponed  his  return  so  long  but  for  the 
faithful  and  able  manner  in  which  his  eldest  son,  to  whom  he  had 
committed  the  charge  of  his  property,  had  executed  that  trust,  thus 
relieving  his  father,  as  the  latter  often  remarked,  of  all  anxiety  in 
regard  to  his  own  affairs,  and  enabling  him  to  give  undivided  attention 
to  those  of  the  public.  Having  obtained  the  President's  consent,  Mr. 
LAWRENCE  resigned  his  place  as  envoy  from  the  United  States  on  the 
1st  of  October,  1852,  and  bade  adieu  to  those  shores  where  he  had 
landed  almost  a  stranger,  but  where  he  now  left  a  host  of  friends ; 
where  the  kindness  of  his  heart,  the  charm  of  his  manners,  and  his 
elegant  hospitality,  had  made  his  mission  as  acceptable  to  the  English 
as  the  able  and  conscientious  manner  in  which  it  was  conducted  ren 
dered  it  honorable  to  himself  and  his  country. 

The  citizens  of  Boston  had  made  preparations  for  giving  him  such 
a  brilliant  reception  on  landing  as  might  show  their  sense  of  his  ser 
vices.  Unhappily,  the  time  of  his  return  was  also  that  of  the  death 
of  Mr.  Webster.  Mr.  LAWRENCE  proceeded  to  Marshfield  the  day 
after  his  arrival ;  and  his  first  meeting  with  many  of  his  friends  and 
townsmen  was  at  the  celebration  of  the  funeral  obsequies  of  the  great 
statesman.  When  a  decent  time  had  elapsed,  his  friends  resumed  their 
purpose  of  a  complimentary  dinner.  But  Mr.  LAWRENCE,  with  much 
delicacy,  declined  their  invitation,  saying  that  "  he  should  seem  want 
ing  in  respect  for  the  dead,  as  well  as  consideration  for  the  living,  were 
he  to  accept  a  festive  entertainment  at  such  a  season  of  mourning." 

He  now  resumed  his  former  way  of  life,  and  was  to  be  found  at  the 
regular  hours  at  his  accustomed  place  of  business.  The  complexion 
of  the  times  was  most  unfavorable  to  both  the  cotton  and  woollen 
manufactures.  Great  advances  were  required  to  be  made  for  the 
completion  of  works  in  which  Mr.  LAWRENCE  was  largely  interested. 
It  was  difficult  to  obtain  such  advances  in  the  depressed  state  of  the 

15  * 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

stocks.  With  his  usual  spirit,  Mr.  LAWRENCE  came  forward  to  the 
rescue,  and  not  only  bore  his  own  share  of  the  subscription,  but  took 
stock  to  the  amount  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  more, 
though  in  doing  so  he  sacrificed  half  that  amount,  the  stock  having 
fallen  fifty  per  cent,  in  the  market. 

But  Mr.  LAWRENCE,  though  he  gave  a  general  supervision  to  his 
affairs,  left  the  conduct  of  them  to  his  younger  partners,  whose  expe 
rience  well  qualified  them  for  the  task.  He  did  not  possess,  indeed, 
the  same  strength  of  constitution  and  physical  energy  that  he  once 
had.  Perhaps  for  that  reason,  though  he  still  maintained  a  warm 
interest  in  public  affairs,  with  the  exception  of  his  efforts  in  the  can 
vass  for  General  Scott  as  President,  he  took  no  active  part  in  politics. 
He  still  showed  the  same  zeal  as  ever  in  the  cause  of  education,  and 
watched  with  the  deepest  interest  over  the  rising  fortunes  of  the 
Scientific  School  which  he  had  founded  at  Cambridge.  His  labors  in 
behalf  of  learning  were  fully  appreciated  by  his  countrymen,  one 
proof  of  which  is  afforded  by  the  literary  honors  bestowed  on  him  by 
the  principal  academies  and  colleges  throughout  the  State. 

Thus  loved  and  respected  by  the  community  in  which  he  lived,  with 
a  fortune  that  enabled  him  to  gratify  his  munificent  disposition,  and  a 
heart  fitted  by  nature  for  the  pleasures  of  friendship,  and  above  all 
for  the  sweet  intercourse  of  home,  Mr.  LAWRENCE  might  reasonably 
promise  himself  that  serene  enjoyment  for  the  evening  of  his  days 
which  should  wait  upon  the  close  of  a  well-spent  life.  Alas  !  no  such 
happiness  was  in  store  for  him. 

In  September,  1854,  he  was  visited  by  a  return  of  the  malady  the 
seeds  of  which  had  lingered  in  his  constitution  ever  since  his  illness  at 
Washington.  A  second  attack,  a  few  weeks  later,  while  passing  some 
days  on  his  family  estate  amidst  the  beautiful  scenery  of  Groton,  left 
him  in  a  precarious  state  of  health,  from  which  he  did  not  entirely 
rally  till  the  winter  was  far  advanced.  Even  then,  although  he  re 
covered  the  natural  buoyancy  of  his  spirits  and  again  mingled  in 
society,  the  indications  of  suffering  in  his  countenance,  and  the 
loss  of  his  accustomed  vigor,  were  just  causes  of  apprehension  to  his 
friends.  His  physician  advised  change  of  climate,  and  recommended 
to  him  a  voyage  to  England,  associated  as  it  was  in  his  mind  with  so 
many  pleasant  recollections.  Early  in  June,  1855,  he  accordingly 
secured  a  passage  for  himself  and  Mrs.  Lawrence  in  one  of  the 
British  steamers ;  but,  two  days  after,  his  malady  returned,  accom 
panied  with  such  intense  pain  that  he  took  to  his  bed — from  which  he 
was  never  more  to  rise. 

16 


ABBOTT  LAWRENCE. 

It  would  be  painful  to  follow  him  through  the  long  and  wearisome 
summer,  during  which  he  was  sensibly  losing  ground  day  after  day, 
yet  with  occasional  intervals  of  ease  that  seemed  to  give  promise  that 
the  disease  was  arrested.  No  one  will  forget  the  extraordinary  interest 
shown  on  that  occasion  by  all  classes,  and  the  eagerness  with  which 
they  endeavored  to  draw  ft  om  the  physicians  some  encouragement  for 
their  hopes.  A  more  remarkable  proof  of  the  hold  he  had  upon  the 
community  was  the  daily  announcement  of  the  state  of  his  health  in 
the  public  journals, — a  tribute  the  more  touching  that  he  held  no  offi 
cial  position  to  call  it  forth.  It  was  the  homage  of  the  heart. 

During  the  long  period  of  his  confinement,  his  sufferings  served 
only  to  show  the  sweetness  of  his  disposition.  The  circumstances  which 
filled  those  around  him  with  wretchedness  and  with  apprehensions  they 
could  ill  disguise  had  no  power  to  disturb  his  serenity.  He  loved  life. 
No  man  had  greater  reason  to  love  it ;  for  he  had  all  that  makes  life 
valuable.  But,  as  his  hold  loosened  upon  it,  no  murmur,  no  sigh  of 
regret,  escaped  his  lips;  while  he  bowed  in  perfect  submission  to 
the  will  of  that  Almighty  Father  who  had  ever  dealt  with  him  so 
kindly.  As  his  strength  of  body  diminished,  that  of  his  affections 
seemed  to  increase.  He  appeared  to  be  constantly  occupied  with 
thoughts  of  others  rather  than  of  himself;  and  many  a  touching  in 
stance  did  he  give  of  this  though tfulness  and  of  his  tender  recollection 
of  those  who  were  dear  to  him.  The  desire  of  doing  good,  on  the 
broadest  scale,  clung  to  him  to  the  last.  Not  two  weeks  before 
his  death,  he  was  occupied  with  arranging  the  plan  of  the  model- 
houses  for  the  poor,  for  which  he  made  so  noble  a  provision  in  his 
will.  His  last  hours  were  cheered  by  the  assurance,  as  we  have 
elsewhere  noticed,  that  his  wise  and  generous  provisions  for  promoting 
a  more  scientific  culture  at  Cambridge  were  crowned  with  entire  suc 
cess.  He  was  dying  with  every  thing  around  him  to  soften  the  bit 
terness  of  death — above  all,  with  the  sweet  consciousness  that  he  had 
not  lived  in  vain.  On  the  18th  of  August,  1855,  a  few  months  before 
he  had  completed  his  sixty-third  year,  he  expired,  and  that  so  gently 
that  those  around  could  not  be  sure  of  the  precise  moment  when  his 
spirit  took  its  flight. 

The  tidings  of  Mr.  LAWRENCE'S  death,  though  not  unexpected,  fell 
like  some  startling  calamity  on  the  ears  of  the  community.  A  meet 
ing  of  the  citizens  was  at  once  called  to  express  their  sense  of  this 
great  public  bereavement.  It  assembled  in  Faneuil  Hall — that  hall 
where  the  manly  tones  of  his  own  voice  had  been  so  often  raised  in 
maintenance  of  the  right,  but  which  now  echoed  only  to  the  sounds  of 

2  17  VOL.  1.— Y 


NATIONAL   PORTRAITS. 

fomentation,  as  more  than  one  giftrd  orator  poured  forth  an  eloquent 
au<l  touching  tribute  to  the  virtues  of  the  deceased. 

The  sympathies  of  the  community  were  called  forth  still  more 
strongly  on  the  day  of  the  funeral,  when  the  sad  countenances  and 
moistened  eyes  of  the  vast  multitude  that  attended  the  services  showed 
how  truly  they  felt  the  death  of  Mr.  LAYVRKNCE,  not  merely  as  a  great 
public  calamity,  but  as  something  personal  to  themselves.  Every 
honor  that  could  be  paid  to  his  memory  was  eagerly  rendered  by  the 
authorities  of  the  city  on  this  occasion.  The  day  was  celebrated  as 
a  dav  of  public  mourning.  The  bells  tolled  in  the  principal  churches. 
The  flags  of  the  shipping  were  at  half-mast.  Minute-guns  were  tired. 
The  places  of  business  were  closed  in  many  parts  of  the  town,  and  all 
along  the  road  which  conducted  to  the  cemetery  of  Mount  Auburn. 
As  the  spectator  gazed  on  the  long  company  of  mourners  taking  their 
way  through  files  of  the  soldiery,  who  lined  the  streets  as  far  as  the 
bridge  which  unites  Boston  to  Cambridge,  he  might  well  have  called 
to  mind  the  time  when  the  abject  of  all  this  homage  first  came  to 
town,  over  this  same  avenue,  a  poor  country-lad,  with  only  a  few 
dollars  in  his  pocket  and  but  one  friend  in  that  strange  capital  to 
welcome  him.  That  friend  was  his  brother,  Amos  Lawrence,  who,  only 
three  years  since,  had  been  borne  to  Mount  Auburn,  amidst  the  tears 
and  regrets  of  the  whole  community.  Still  another  brother — William, 
of  whom  mention  has  been  made  in  an  early  part  of  this  memoir — 
had  preceded  them  both  on  the  same  dark  journey.  Like  them, 
he  had  come  to  Boston  to  seek  his  fortune,  which,  when  gained, 
he  employed,  like  them,  in  acts  of  beneficence  and  mercy.  The 
"threefold  cord"  to  which  their  father  had  so  wisely  alluded  was 
indeed  broken.  But  it  was  by  the  hand  of  Death.  And  in  that 
beautiful  cemetery,  where  are  gathered  the  ashes  of  so  many  of  the 
good  and  the  great,  the  three  brothers,  who  loved  one  another  through 
life  so  well,  now  sleep  side  by  side  and  rest  in  peace  from  their 
labors. 

A  notice  of  Mr.  LAWRENCE  would  not  be  complete  without  some 
mention  of  the  legacies  left  by  him  for  charitable  purposes,  so  much 
in  harmony  with  the  general  course  of  his  life.  Besides  doubling  the 
amount  given  in  his  lifetime  to  the  Scientific  School,  he  bequeathed  the 
sum  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  for  the  erection  of  model  lodging-houses 
for  the  poor,  providing  with  great  minuteness  and  discretion  such  regu 
lations  as  would  accomplish  the  object  he  had  in  view.  In  addition  to 
these  munificent  bequests,  he  left  ten  thousand  dollars  to  the  Public 
Library  of  the  city  of  Boston,  and  smaller  legacies  to  different  institu- 

18 


ABBOTT  LAWRENCE. 

tions,  making  the  whole  amount  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars  devised  for  public  objects.  These  were  the  last  acts  of  a  life 
of  benevolence. 

Such  are  the  outlines  of  the  history  of  a  Boston  merchant — of  one 
who,  by  the  energy  of  his  character  and  the  winning  frankness  of  his 
manners,  acquired  a  remarkable  ascendency  over  all  with  whom  he 
came  in  contact ;  who  supplied  the  deficiencies  of  early  education  by 
an  assiduous  diligence  that  made  him  eminent  in  after-life  both  as  a 
public  speaker  and  a  political  writer ;  whose  conduct  was  controlled 
by  settled  religious  principles,  that  made  him  proof  alike  against  the 
intrigues  of  party  and  the  blandishments  of  a  court ;  who  regarded 
every  subject  with  those  large  and  enlightened  views  which  gave 
dignity  to  his  profession  and  raised  him  to  high  consideration  as  a 
diplomatist  and  a  statesman ;  who,  blessed  by  nature  with  a  sunny 
temper  and  a  truly  loving  heart,  was  the  delight  of  his  friends  and  an 
object  of  little  less  than  idolatry  to  his  own  family ;  and  who,  holding 
the  large  property  he  had  acquired  by  his  own  efforts  as  a  trust  for 
the  good  of  his  fellow-men,  dispensed  it  in  those  noble  charities  which 
have  gained  him  a  high  place  among  the  benefactors  of  mankind. 


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